Gods and Demigods Read the Best Percabeth Moments
by pjolover11
Summary: Gods and demigods read the best Percabeth moments put together by Aphrodite! The seven plus Nico, Thalia, and Grover will be there! All chaos will certainly ensue.T for very mild swearing in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note**

**This is my first fanfic! I have had this in my head forever, because I like to see Athena get mad at Percy. I know some people are going to protest and say I've copied from the books, but I have seen the entire PJO series written with words in-between, so please don't take this story off!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan and do not own anything Percy Jackson**

Chapter 1

Winter Solstice, after Giant War

It was a normal day on Olympus, or a least as normal as Olympus could get. Of course, as typical of the gods, full out fights were ensuing. Aphrodite was complaining to Artemis about how she should date, Zeus and Poseidon were having the "extremely important" air vs. water argument, and most of the other gods were just watching in amusement. All 12 Olympians were there, also including Hades and Hestia.

Suddenly, a note fell out of the sky, along with a leather bound book, and landed right in front of Zeus. He picked it up and read in his loud, booming voice.

_Dear Gods and Goddesses,_

_As you know, my favorite OTP is Percabeth. (made up of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.) Here is a collection of their cutest moments, put together by yours truly, the goddess of love._

_Aphrodite_

_p.s. Demigods will be coming in soon!_

"What?" shouted Poseidon and Athena in unison, as Aphrodite emitted a ear-piercing squeal.

"That boy," Athena growled.

"Well, I think we should read it." Aphrodite argued, still making awful squeaking noises. "Antthing written by me is worth it!" The gods just rolled their eyes.

"What's an OTP?" Apollo said, looking around in confusion, just realizing what was going on.

Another large flash lit up the room, and suddenly 10 demigods were in front of them. A bewildered looked past between them, as they looked around.

"Why are we on Olympus?" a blonde haired girl asked.

"Aphrodite has made a book of Percabeth moments," Hestia explained gently. " Now, I know we met after the Giant War, but please introduce yourselves again." At the word Percabeth, a large groan came from the handsome, black haired demigod.

"Why is it always me?" he moaned again. Then, realizing he should introduce himself, he stepped forward. "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon," Poseidon smiled at his favorite son, who 18 years old.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena," said the pretty blonde girl who looked about 18.

"Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite," A unconventionally beautiful girl around 17 stepped forward, her kaleidoscope eyes sparkling and the feather in her hair waving.

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter," said a boy of about 17, with ice blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Leo Flaming Valdez, son of Hephaestus," an small, 16 year old elfish looking Latino boy caught on fire, and then stepped back.

"Hazel Levesque, son of Pluto," the youngest looking girl stuttered, her golden eyes round against her brown skin.

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars," A boy about 16 who was built like a wrestler said.

"Grover Underwood, satyr," A confident satyr wearing a Rasta cap nodded.

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades." A small, 16 year old kid in all black said.

With her ice blue eyes flashing beneath her thick eyeliner, the last girl stepped forward and declared, "Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of Artemis."

Leo piped up, "Um, Lord Zeus, could we have a chair or something to sit in now that the introductions are done?" Zeus snapped his fingers, and a huge couch appeared. The demigods(and satyr) settled down. Percy slung his arm around Annabeth(At this point Athena was glaring daggers,) and Piper snuggled up to Jason. Frank and Hazel held hands, and Grover sat next to Thalia and Nico.

"Who wants to read first?" Aphrodite said, barely containing her excitement.

"I will," Athena said as threateningly as she could. Percy gulped, and clung to Annabeth tighter. Everyone leaned forward as Athena started to read.

**Thanks for reading! It will get better once we get to the moments! I will update soon! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites. These will be short chapters because the moments are short. Obviously, the stuff in bold is from the books. ****Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All stuff in bold and the PJO universe is not mine.**

Athena looked down at leather bound book in front of her, and sniffed disdainfully. "There is a note from Aphrodite."

_**This is Percabeth's first meeting! Enjoy!**_

Percy groaned and shoved his head into his hands. "Why this one?" He exclaimed melodramatically.

"What do you mean? Did you say something bad about me Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth demanded.

"Um, no?" Percy replied weakly. Everyone laughed, and you could hear Leo murmuring "Oh snap!" in the background. Athena took that as a clue to start reading.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. **

"Wait what?" almost everyone exclaimed.

"This must have been right after I defeated the Minotaur," Percy explained, "And before I really even knew who I was." A slight shaking was seen from Percy as he thought about that night. Annabeth kissed him to comfort him, and he smiled at her.

"You defeated the minotaur? Dude, you've done everything!" Leo exclaimed excitedly, while the rest of the Seven just shook their heads. They had to live with "Team Leo" for over a year.

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.**

"Thanks again man," Grover said sheepishly. Poseidon looked at his son with admiration, impressed he hadn't let a scary encounter shake him too bad. Percy grinned at Grover in response.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.  
**

"Princess curls huh?" Annabeth said, looking at Percy.

"I'm sorry Wise Girl!" Percy quickly covered, as he leaned over to kiss her. " I love you?" Annabeth just smirked, and Aphrodite squealed in the back round, claiming that they were perfect for each other from the start because Percy called Annabeth pretty. Athena started again quickly, sensing the awful noise wouldn't stop unless the book continued.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

Grover rolled his eyes, and Thalia laughed. "Dam Annabeth, liked him for that long?" She said teasingly. Annabeth, who blushed, muttered something along the lines of "Maybe,"

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"And that's the end of that segment," Athena said. "Who wants to read next?" Apollo raised his hand and Athena handed him the book.

**Thanks for reading! Review please? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Two updates in one day! Whoop! This is still from the first book. Again, I am sorry they are so short, but the moments are short. This one is a little longer. Also, school is starting again, so I may not be able to update as fast, but I'll try for twice a week at the least. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO  
**

Apollo looked down at the book, and said, "This is still in Percy's POV, I think, and Aphrodite left another note." Percy just yelled in frustration.

"Why? Why me? My POV is not that interesting!" Frank and Hazel smiled, for they were glad to read their friends life story from the beginning. Apollo cleared his throat and started to read the love goddesses' note.

_**This is when Percy and Annabeth are formally introduced. Enjoy!**_

Aphrodite waved her hands excitedly. "I am such a genius!"

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

"Ha, Annabeth had to spoon feed you like a baby!" Leo giggled.

"Shut up Valdez," Percy mummered, his face turning a light pink.

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. **

At this, Dionysus, who had been engrossed in a wine magazine looked up. "Johnson, if you are describing me," he let the threat hang in mid air.

**He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather. "That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. **

"Perseus Jackson!" Mr. D exploded. " I do not look like a cherub, not am I middle aged!"

"I didn't know how awesome you were yet Mr. D!" Percy hurried, scrambling for words. 'So, um, yeah." The god looked less angry, and sat back down in his chair.

"Another proficient speech from the mouth of a Seaweed Brain," Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear. Percy just nodded, because he had no clue what proficient meant.

**"He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron… ."**

"Whoa, sorry Lord Apollo, but did I hear you say that I was just a camper?" Annabeth's gray eyes flashed as she looked for Grover. "Grover Underwood! I was and still am one of your best friends." The mentioned satyr just shrunk back in his seat and smiled apologetically.

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

"You didn't realize that Mr. Brunner was probably not his real name even after that?" Jason asked incredulously.

"He may be a Seaweed Brain, but he's my Seaweed Brain," Annabeth smirked, leaning in to kiss Percy. Athena gagged in the background, and Aphrodite smiled a smile that might have been scarier than Tartarus.

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

"I take offence to that!" Grover said. Dionysus just growled from behind his magazine.

"Relax Goat Boy," Thalia rolled her eyes.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

"Annabeth the little helper," Leo sang. Artemis looked at her brother, who still frowning at the book, and then at Leo. "Boys," she thought, sighing in exasperation.

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. **

"Do you have a problem with my daughters eyes Percy?" Athena demanded. Percy gulped, noting the similar eyes between Annabeth and her mother.

"Uh, no. Annabeth's eyes are beautiful like her. Apollo keep reading!" Percy rushed in one breath.

**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.**

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

"Omigods Annabeth seriously?" Piper exclaimed. "No wonder it took so long for you guys to get together!" Everyone, even Hades, was laughing. Thalia and Nico were rolling on the floor, along with some of the more immature gods (Cough Hermes Apollo and Ares). Percy and Annabeth were slightly embarassed, but it felt good to laugh. Apollo, once he regained control of himself, spoke up.

"Who wants to read next?"

"I will," said a quiet voice in the corner. Hestia was so silent, everyone had forgotten she was there. She took the book and opened it up.

**I tried to fit in as much Percabeth as possible. Please review? It makes my day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews, that was awesome. Thanks also to the people who followed or favorited. There was not a whole lot of Percabeth in this chapter, but I added as much as possible. This chapter is a lot longer.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan and I do not own PJO**

Hestia read the note from Aphrodite.

_**Ah, young love. So many arguments and so much violence.**_

"Yeah, you guys do fight all the time," Nico said. "Almost as bad as Percy and Thalia!"

"Shut up Death Breath," the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Zeus said in unison. Nico held his hands up in surrender, and Zeus and Poseidon glared at each other, remembering old arguments. The ever peaceful Hestia took that as a clue to read again.

**"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."**

"This is on our way west to find the Lightning Bolt," Percy explained quickly.

**She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."**

**"Remind me again-why do you hate me so much?"**

**"I don't hate you."**

**"Could've fooled me."**

"No, you loooove him," Aphrodite said dreamily. The mentioned couple blushed.

**She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look … we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."**

Cue glares from Athena and Poseidon.

**"Why?"**

**She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."**

" I personally like the salt spring," Percy said, but when Athena turned her gaze on him, he backtracked. "But olives are delicious!" Annabeth kissed and told him to shut is big mouth.

**"They must really like olives."**

**"Oh, forget it."**

**"Now, if she'd invented pizza-that I could understand."**

Everyone laughed. "Dude," Jason snorted," No wonder every major god has wanted to kill you at some point."

"Don't forget some of the minor gods too!" Thalia pointed out.

**"I said, forget it!"**

**In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.**

**Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.**

**Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. **

Hestia looked up. "There is another note from Aphrodite,"

_**There is boring, sad depressing talks that happen in between this, but no Percabeth! So I skipped those parts.**_

Aphrodite squealed. "I am honestly so impressed with my self," Nobody was sure whether to laugh or groan.

**Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy-enchiladas.**

"Enchiladas are the best," Grover sighed. "Does anyone have some?" The gods looked at him in confusion, but the demigods smiled.

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."**

**But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.**

**I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.**

**As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee. "Percy."**

Aphrodite let loose a ear-piecing shriek. "Eek! They touched!" Hera just looked at her in confusion.

"She just touched his knee!" Aphrodite waved her hand absentmindedly in response, her brain working hard .

**An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.**

**It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.**

"Another Fury?" Poseidon said pointedly at Hades. Hades just shrugged.

**I scrunched down in my seat.**

**Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds-same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.**

"Ew, such bad fashion taste," Piper said in disgust. The demigods looked at her in surprise, and she smile sheepishly.

**They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.**

**The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."**

**"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."**

"Your luck is awful punk," Ares said. Everyone thought he had been sleeping, but maybe he had sensed violence and woken up.

**"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"**

**"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."**

**"They don't open," Grover moaned.**

**"A back exit?" she suggested.**

**There wasn't one. **

Leo and Hephaestus looked at each other. "We should totally design a demigod bus," Leo said.

"My forges, after this book is done," Hephaestus replied.

**Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.**

**"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"**

"Oh yes they will," Hades said darkly. Anabeth snuggled closer to Percy.

**"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."**

**"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"**

**She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof … ?"**

**We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.**

**Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."**

**"So do I," said the second sister.**

**"So do I," said the third sister.**

"They need lying lessons," Hermes declared. "Obvious much?"

**They all started coming down the aisle.**

**"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."**

**"What?"**

**"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."**

"And he is not going to like that," Thalia said. "His freaking fatal flaw is loyalty."

**But you guys-"**

**"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."**

"YEah percy, yours is awful." Grover admitted.

"Thanks G-man," Percy said sarcastically.

**"I can't just leave you."**

**"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"**

**My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.**

**When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.**

**I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.**

**Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.**

**Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.**

**I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.**

"And Percy is probably going to make a rash decision?" Frank asked. The other demigods just nodded.

**The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same-I guess those couldn't get any uglier- but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.**

**The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"**

"Did they say it?" Athena asked, her interest spiked. As Hestia answered, Percy pulled Annabeth in and kissed her.

**The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.**

**"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"**

**The Furies raised their whips.**

**Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.**

**What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.**

"Actually, I think that goes to Leo," Percy joked.

"Team Leo for the win!" Leo shouted, flexing his non-existent muscles.

**The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.**

**Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.**

**"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"**

"That was so stupid! You could have killed Annabeth and Grover, not to mention the mortals!" Athena was angry now.

"They all lived, ok?" Percy defended. Annabeth stood next to him, prepared to fight.

**We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.**

**We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.**

**Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.**

"Yes! Hit the river!" Ares screamed.

**Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.**

**The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass. **

"Can you imagine how scary it was for those mortals?" Apollo shivered.

**The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.**

**I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"**

"Together forever," Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear. "I'll never leave you Wise Girl."

**The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test. **

"You got F's on tests! How disgraceful." Athena shook her head.

**Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.**

**Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.**

**"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."**

"Look at how well that turned out," Percy said cheekily. Annabeth lightly smacked him.

**"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.**

**She growled.**

**Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.**

"I was trying to distract her without you dying," Annabeth admitted. "Honestly, I did like you."

**I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.**

**The Furies hesitated.**

**Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.**

**"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."**

**"Nice try," I told her.**

**"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.**

"She's protecting you! How sweet," Aphrodite exclaimed.

"It just ends there," Hestia said, confused.

Everyone stared at the love goddess.

"What? I never said I was a good writer!"

**Thanks for reading! Please review! I want this story to get to 20 reviews.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with this! School sucks, so I haven't been able to update. I'm kinda hurrying through The Lightning Thief. I'm trying to get this story to as many reviews as follows.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO ;(**

"Who wants to read next?" Hestia asked timidly.

"Apollo the awesome will!" Apollo exclaimed. Artemis groaned, and Hestia regretfully handed the book over.

_**Aww, blaming their parents for their problems. Adorbs!**_

Hephaestus looked confused. "Adorbs?"

"Why are they blaming us?" Poseidon and Athena said in unison. They looked at each and blushed. Annabeth and Percy shrunk back in their seats, nervous for this chapter.

**Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.**

"We had just killed Medusa, I think," Grover said. The three friends looked at each other and grimaced.

"Good Gods, you guys have the worst luck," Thalia snickered.

**Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."**

**Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.**

**"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.**

**"Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. "Why didn't … why didn't the head evaporate?"**

"I love spoils of war," Ares growled.

"You would," Athena said. Ares thought for a moment, his brain too small to process what Athena was saying.

**"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."**

**Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.**

**"The Red Baron," I said. "Good job, man."**

"I feel a haiku!" Apollo interrupted himself. The entire throne room hit their heads. "Grover is the Red Baron, he saves his friends from Medusa, Grover is the Red Baron." Apollo grinned, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"That wasn't even a proper haiku!" Athena cried, looking scandalized. Apollo shrugged and kept reading.

**He managed a bashful grin. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun."**

"Well duh," Leo and Nico said at the same time.

**He snatched his shoes out of the air. I recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.**

**We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.**

**Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"**

"PERSEUS JACKSON!" Athena exploded out of her chair, and a flock of owls appeared over her head, preparing to dive bomb Percy.

"MOM!" Annabeth stood up in front of Percy and faced her mother. "We were so young! He is my one true love, and he has been respectful since then! Hurt him and you hurt me!" Athena huffed and sank back into her seat. Percy gave Annabeth a quick kiss, and the whole room seemed to sigh a breath of relief.

**Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."**

"Annabeth," Poseidon said disturbingly calm. "Did you just blame me for this?" A huge wave roared out over nowhere, when another wall of water rose to meet it and blocked it.

"Dad, if you hurt Annabeth, I'll do anything for her. Remember, I fell into freaking Tartarus for her?" A silence fell over the gods, as they remember that Percy was perhaps one of the most powerful demigods ever. Percy snapped his fingers, and the wall was gone. Jason's mouth gaped, he had no idea Percy was THAT powerful. Aphrodite sat back on her throne, looking as pleased as punch. Percy sat back down next to Annabeth. Apollo decided to read to break the awkward silence.

**My face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."**

**Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"**

**"Forget it," I said. "You're impossible."**

**"You're insufferable."**

**"You're-"**

"Fighting once again!" Most of the demigods finished.

"I'm honestly surprised you guys are a couple the way you fight sometimes." Leo said.

"True love," Piper interjected dreamily. When Jason stared at her, she crossed her arms defensively.

**"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"**

"I know what you do," Nico smirked.

"That was very stupid of you Seaweed Brain," Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear.

"I know, I love you Wise Girl," Percy whispered back, They snuggled farther into the couch, Frank and Hazel were sitting there in amazement, not believing what had all just happened.

"What do you think about Pothena?" Aphrodite asked suddenly. "You know, Poseidon and Athena?" A stunned silence met her speech, and then the room burst into incredulous laughter.

**Thanks so much for reading! Please review? Sorry about the little Pothena, couldn't help it. :) Do you ship Pothena? Answer in the reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm just going to do small crush Pothena. This is the second to last one in the Lightning Thief. Um, its kinda really long, so I'm super proud!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO**

Athena and Poseidon still looked embarrassed and disgruntled when the laughter died down.

"Alright, who wants to read next?" Apollo declared. Hephaestus raised his hand, and the book was transferred to him.

"Is it still in my POV?" Percy asked, crossing his fingers.

"Looks like it," Hephaestus said, looking sympathetic.

"Schist!" Percy exclaimed. He and Hazel looked at each other and cracked up. Hephaestus took that as a cue to read.

_**Oh, how I love the Tunnel Ride of Looooovvee**_

"Is that…" Hephaestus looked at Annabeth.

"Yup." She answered. Everyone just looked confused. "You'll find out later."

**The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.**

Ares looked very pleased. "HA, that's when I sent you guys to get my shield."

"Yeah, that wasn't fun," Percy murmured, wrapping his arms around Annabeth.

**The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.**

**"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."**

"Excuse me?" Aphrodite popped out of her daydream. "Is that an insult to my beauty?"

"No, he just was clueless, and still is," Annabeth covered.

**Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."**

**"Why? I thought you hated Ares."**

**"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."**

**"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.**

**"Who is she? Echidna?"**

"Okay, did you just think I was that butt-ugly monster? I am beautiful, hell, I can even look like Annabeth!" Aphrodite changed until she was a splitting image of the girl sitting next to Percy. She tossed her curly blonde over her shoulder and huffed. Percy relaxed form the position of surrender he was in.

**"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."**

**"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."**

"Yeah," Hephaestus glared at Ares.

**What's your point?" he asked.**

**"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"**

**"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.**

**He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"**

"Oh Grover, I would have loved to see that!" Thalia laughed.

**Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.**

**The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?**

"Oh my gods, who named those! Those are totally….AWESOME!" Leo screeched.

**No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.**

**We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-**

**"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."**

**"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-"**

**"Watch me."**

**She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. **

"Ewwww, surf shoes are weird." Piper said. Annabeth gave her a light-hearted glare.

"Well, it was all I had!"

**A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.**

**"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.**

**We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"**

"Seriously, you hadn't figured it out? I honestly don't understand how you are the savior of Olympus sometimes." Nico said in amazement.

**"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."**

**"What about Aphrodite's husband?"**

**"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"**

**"She likes bikers."**

"Yeah, I'm tougher than you punk," Ares sneered.

"Did you forget that I beat you?" Percy retaliated, standing up.

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth pulled him down while Aphrodite cooed.

**"Whatever."**

**"Hephaestus knows?"**

**"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like …"**

**She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."**

**In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding.**

"You skateboard? Me too!" Jason said looking surprised.

"Awesome! We should go after all this is over!" Percy yelled. The two boys started chatting.

"Sorry to interrupt to your guys' bromance, but we really should read," Thalia butted in.

**It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.**

**Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!**

**Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."**

**Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.**

**"This is too easy," I said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"**

**Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.**

**"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder …"**

"Oh….." Leo said. "What kind? Video?" He directed the last question towards his dad. Hephaestus nodded, looking kinda sheepish.

**"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"**

**He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."**

**"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"**

"Oooo, low blow," Hermes said. Percy blushed.

**Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."**

**"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."**

**"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.**

**"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."**

**Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"**

**"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"**

"You did not just do that," Thalia was doubled over, hysterically laughing.

Aphrodite squealed something things about Percy always loving Annabeth, and other love gibberish. The said couple just blushed.

**"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.**

**"What's the problem now?" I demanded.**

**"Me, go with you to the … the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"**

"Nobodies there?" Frank asked confusedly.

**"Who's going to see you?" **

"Only about all of Olympus," Hephaestus whispered.

**But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.**

"Words of wisdom," Artemis nodded.

**We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.**

"I am amazing," the said gods mentioned at the same time.

**I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable-rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."**

"Jealous much?" Nico teased. Annabeth looked down and whispered something around the lines of maybe, but nobody really heard.

**"What?"**

**"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."**

**The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.**

"Oh," the whole room sighed as they figured ought what was going on.\

**"Wait," Annabeth said.**

**"Too late."**

"Kelp Head, duh!" Thalia just shook her head. Annabeth kissed him(again)

**"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."**

**Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.**

**Grover yelled, "Guys!"**

**Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.**

Athena and Poseidon turned to Ares. "Did you seriously send my daughter into a trap?" You can guess who said that.

"Um, yes?" Ares obviously had no idea what was going on, as always.

**"We have to get out," I said.**

**"Duh!" Annabeth said.**

**I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.**

**"Come on!" Grover shouted.**

**He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.**

**The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute … Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight …"**

"Oh my gods, you guys are being broadcasted to Olympus, on the Tunnel Ride of Love, together!" Jason just shook his head. "Honestly, I've never met people with such bad luck."

**"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"**

**We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic … things poured out.**

**Annabeth screamed.**

**It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.**

**"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"**

Both Athena and Annabeth shivered. Percy pulled Annabeth closer to him and whispered sweet things to her.

**I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.**

"Thank goodness for Percy," Athena suddenly blurted. Everyone looked at her, and got all defensive. "What? He saved Annabeth so many times!"

"Miracles do happen," Percy told Annabeth, both of them with looks of surprise etched onto their faces.

**The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods.**

"Really, I hadn't noticed!" Dionysus's sarcastic voice floated over the top of his magazine.

**Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.**

**"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.**

**The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe.**

"Good, get rid of those ugly things," Piper shuddered.

**Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.**

**Think, I told myself. Think.**

**The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.**

**"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.**

**Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?**

**Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.**

**"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"**

"Good idea, but knowing you, it isn't going to work." Frank shook his head.

**"But-"**

**"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there.**

**Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.**

**"Five, four-"**

**Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.**

**I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.**

"Could you do that?" Leo asked, his ADHD piping up.

"Shut up!" the room yelled, for it was getting suspenseful.

**"Two, one, zero!"**

**Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.**

**The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.**

**Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.**

A few people gasped, but most were to engrossed in the story.

**But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I willed it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness.**

**Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.**

"Were you holding tight to each other?" Aphrodite said slyly.

"I honestly don't remember, I was so scared of the spiders." Annabeth answered, her facing turning red.

"I was concentrating on the water," Percy chimed in.

**Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.**

**If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. **

"The Golden Gates of Love?" Thalia and Artemis both gagged.

**But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade-one submerged, the other cracked in half.**

**"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.**

**"Are you crazy?"**

**"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane. As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool.**

**Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer.**

**"On my mark," I said.**

**"No! On my mark!"  
**

"Yeah, Percy's ideas normally fail," Grover said.

"Guys, this is my best friend! My life is sad." Percy pouted, causing Annabeth to laugh and kiss him again.

**"What?"**

**"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"**

**"Fine.'" I shouted. "On your mark!"**

**She hesitated … hesitated … then yelled, "Now!"**

**Crack!**

**Annabeth was right.**

**If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into the gates. She got us maximum lift.**

**Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.**

**Something grabbed me from behind.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"**

**Grover!**

Everyone gave the goat man a standing round of applause. He bowed, grinning.

**In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum.**

**"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"**

"Yeah Percy, lose a few!" Thalia screamed from the other end of the couch.

"I'm perfectly fit, thank you!" Percy yelled back.

**We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.**

**We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on my arm.**

"Oh good," Ares sighed. "What? I forgot!" was his answer to al the stares he received.

**Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.**

**A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.**

**"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"**

"Only Percy would say that," Hazel shook her head, once again impressed by her friend.

**The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good.**

**I hated being teased. I hated being tricked. And I had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."**

"I meant to ask you, did you save that video?" Annabeth directed to Hephaestus. He nodded, and the next fifteen minutes were devoted to laughing at the video on The Tunnel of Love.

**Thanks so much! Please review! You all are awesome! Let's get to 40 reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews, a got a few flames, but that's ok! I love constructive criticism! I kinda skipped a bunch of the Lightning Thief, because not much Percabeth happened.**

**Disclaimer: I really wish I owned anything PJO, but I only own the plot for this fanfic.**

After everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the video of Percy and Annabeth on the Tunnel Ride of Love, Aphrodite decided it was time for business.

"I will read next!" She declared, causing everyone to sit back down, the demigods on the couch and the gods on their thrones. "Oh look, a note from myself! I am so pleased about how this turned out!" She squealed.

_**This is after the end of Percabeth's quest, Luke's scorpion had just bitten Percy. Aw look, Annabeth is caring for him again!**_

Percy mumbled under his breath something along the lines of "No good…Water no help…Freaking hurt like Tartarus…." Annabeth smiled and laced her hand in his. Grover looked indignant and stared at Aphrodite.

"Percabeth's quest? I was there too!" The love goddess waved a hand dismissively, and started to read. Grover grunted, and Leo looked at him sympathetically. He knew what it was like to be a third wheel.

**I woke with a drinking straw in my mouth. I was sipping something that tasted like liquid chocolate-chip cookies. Nectar.**

"Best stuff in the world!" Jason and Percy said at the same time.

**I opened my eyes.**

**I was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, my right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth sat next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead.**

**"Here we are again," I said.**

**"You idiot," Annabeth said, which is how I knew she was overjoyed to see me conscious. **

"Yeah, nice way of showing it," Nico scoffed. Annabeth responded by kissing Percy deeply. Thalia, Artemis, and Athena all gagged, while Aphrodite snapped her fingers at them.

"Shhhhhhhhh," She hissed loudly. "You're ruining the moment!" At this, the couple broke apart, blushing lightly. Aphrodite sighed and shook her head at the three girls.

**"You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing …"**

"And here is where the anger comes in," Percy smiled. "That's when I know I've screwed up."

**"Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."**

**He was sitting near the foot of my bed in human form, which was why I hadn't noticed him yet. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. **

**"How are you feeling?" he asked.**

**"Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved."**

Hermes started to speak, but Aphrodite cut him off. "Let's keep reading!"

Percy rolled his eyes at Annabeth and whispered "The sooner the better." She nodded in return.

**"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened."**

**Between sips of nectar, I told them the story.**

**The room was quiet for a long time.**

**"I can't believe that Luke …" Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him…. He was never the same after his quest."**

"Were you seriously in denial about Luke for a while?" Jason asked curiously. Piper smacked his arm.

"I thought I loved him for a long time, but I just loved him as a brother. Percy is the only one for me." Annabeth replied strongly, gazing with her steel cold eyes at Jason. He raised his hands in surrender, and she laughed, curling closer to Percy. Frank, Hazel, and Leo watched in amazement, but the other demigods knew how much Percy meant to the daughter of Athena. Athena mentally approved of her daughters dedication.

**"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once."**

**"Luke is out there right now," I said. "I have to go after him."**

**Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods-"**

**"Won't even talk about Kronos," I snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"**

Zeus raised an eyebrow, and Percy looked back at him, not scared in the slightest. The King of the Gods backed down and motioned for Aphrodite to keep reading.

**"Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready."**

**I didn't like it, but part of me suspected Chiron was right. One look at my hand, and I knew I wasn't going to be sword fighting any time soon. "Chiron … your prophecy from the Oracle … it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth?"**

"Is always right," Percy answered his own question. Annabeth laughed, and everyone nodded in agreement.

**Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place-"**

**"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?"**

**His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you …"**

**Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows.**

**"All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!"**

"I've never actually seen Chiron get angry," Leo noted.

Thalia shuddered. "It's not pretty."

**He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."**

**"We can't just sit back and do nothing," I said.**

**"We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come."**

**"Assuming I live that long."**

"Gods, be a pessimist Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"But I'm your pessimist," Percy pleaded, with big baby seal eyes. Aphrodite screamed, and all the gods sighed in annoyance.

**Chiron put his hand on my ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice…." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."**

**I wanted to protest. I wanted to ask him more questions. But his expression told me there could be no more discussion; he had said as much as he could.**

"He probably could have said a lot more Kelp Head," Thalia argued. "He just wanted you to stop asking questions."

"Well, they were very intellectual questions Pinecone Face," Percy retorted.

Leo looked around confused. "What's intellectual?"

"Not you," Annabeth said under her breath. Percy laughed and kissed her, again.

**"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you."**

**He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear … whenever you're ready, they're here."**

**"Who's here?" I asked.**

**Nobody answered.**

"They always have conversations without me understanding!" Percy exclaimed, looking miffed.

**Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time.**

**Annabeth studied the ice in my drink.**

**"What's wrong?" I asked her.**

**"Nothing." She set the glass on the table. "I … just took your advice about something. You … um … need anything?"**

"Wait, did you say you took his advice?" Frank asked. Percy gaped in mock hurt at him, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the only good stuff he has spit out." Percy smiled a endearing smile, and she cuddled closer, clinging as tight to him as she could. Aphrodite was beside her self, and could barely read from ecstasy.

**"Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside."**

**"Percy, that isn't a good idea."**

**I slid my legs out of bed. Annabeth caught me before I could crumple to the floor. **

"She caught you? Coughcough weak coughcough." Nico snorted at his own wit. No one else did.

**A wave of nausea rolled over me.**

**Annabeth said, "I told you …"**

**"I'm fine," I insisted. I didn't want to lie in bed like an invalid while Luke was out there planning to destroy the Western world.**

**I managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on Annabeth. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance.**

**By the time we reached the porch, my face was beaded with sweat. My stomach had twisted into knots. But I had managed to make it all the way to the railing.**

**It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun.**

**"What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked me.**

**"I don't know."**

"I'm glad you did what you did," Annabeth whispered, hugging Percy even tighter.

"Me too Wise Girl, me too," Percy murmured, kissing her head. This time, Piper and her mom cooed.

**I told her I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I wasn't sure that's what I wanted. I admitted I'd feel bad about leaving her alone, though, with only Clarisse for company….**

**Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy."**

**I stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?"**

**She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted-two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver.**

Do you still have it?" Grover asked, looking pointedly at Annabeth. She shook her head sadly.

"That's unfortunate, it was a good backpack," Hermes said wistfully. No one was sure whether to laugh or hold a funeral for the poor backpack.

**"I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him … I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided … we'd give it another try."**

**"That took guts."**

**She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least … not without sending me an Iris-message?"**

"Ha, Percy's always stupid," Nico said. The love goddess took it a different way.

"Aw, she cares for him!" Every single person in the room was annoyed with Aphrodite now, especially the maiden goddesses. Ares looked like he wanted to slap his admittedly attractive lover across the room.

**I managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."**

**"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"**

**"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."**

"I do think of great plans don't I?" Athena bragged

"No." was Poseidon's terse answer.

"It was theoretical idiot! You weren't supposed to answer it!" Percy sighed, and conjured a huge wall in-between the bickering gods. He nodded to keep reading.

**She held out her hand. I shook it.**

**"Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told me. "Keep your eyes open."**

**"You too, Wise Girl."**

**I watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world.**

**For the first time at camp, I felt truly alone. I looked out at Long Island Sound and I remembered my father saying, The sea does not like to be restrained.**

"Heck no," said Hazel, remembering their trip to Alaska.

**I made my decision.**

**I wondered, if Poseidon were watching, would he approve of my choice?**

**"I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then. After all, I am your son." I asked Argus to take me down to cabin three, so I could pack my bags for home.**

Percy released the wall, barely even sweating. Everyone look amazed. It was like they had forgotten how powerful he was.

"Well, are we done?" Percy asked.

"Nope, not even a tenth done!" Aphrodite sounded so cherry, Percy was sure she was enjoying herself too much. The said couple just groaned, and stood up.

"Well, I want a break," Jason declared, standing up too. The demigods looked at the gods, and when they nodded, all the half-bloods walked out of the throne room, ready to relax.

**Oooo, there was some sassy Annabeth in there! Thank you guys for reading! That was so fun to write! Let's get this story to 45 reviews, or more! IMPORTANT: Tell me in the reviews if you want me to write a chapter about the break, or just skip to The Sea of Monsters!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for waiting so long, it was finals week and my birthday, my parents threw me a surprise party! To celebrate, I wrote a pretty long chapter, for me anyways. I counted up all the votes, and just continuing to The Sea of Monsters won, so that's what I'll be doing. Thanks again for all the reviews, and please review even more!**

**Disclaimer: PJO is totally not mine**

After a quick break(during which Percabeth was teased mercilessly by their friends and hounded by Aphrodite), the demigods reluctantly came back to the throne room. Poseidon decided to pick up the book, as everyone settled in for more reading.(Certain demigods not looking to happy about it.)

"Woop-dee-doo, another note from Aphrodite," Poseidon said. Aphrodite huffed.

_**This is right before the quest to the Sea of Monsters, and before Percy knew who Tyson really was…..Annabeth always saves the day! So perfect….**_

Percy groaned and everyone looked at him.

"Something bad happen?" Leo asked. Percy smiled mischievously.

"You'll see," he replied, Annabeth had a look of complete concentration on her face, and then she blushed, just realizing what was going to happen. Percy smirked.

**Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window.**

**I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass-a humanlike shape. **

Annabeth sucked in a breath, while Athena looked at her suspiciously. Undeterred, Poseidon read on. All the other demigods just looked confused.

**But then there was a knock on my bedroom door-my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late"-and the shadow at the window disappeared.**

**It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape … there couldn't have been anyone out there.**

"Stupid….invisible hat…..observant Seaweed Brain," Annabeth murmured. Percy smiled, and grabbed her hand.

"Could you say that louder please?" Percy asked sweetly.

"Could you shut up?" Annabeth replied, and then to do that, leaned over and kissed him. Aphrodite squealed, and Athena glared. Poseidon started to read again, but glanced up at the room.

"Um, there is another note from the love goddess," he said sheepishly. Percabeth broke apart, and Artemis sighed in relief. Making out was not tolerated, she was a maiden goddess!

_**Stuff happens, Percy gets in trouble, more school, blah blah blah…..**_

**In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps, I opened my notebook and stared at the photo inside-my friend Annabeth on vacation in Washington, D.C. **

"You had a photo of her in your binder? Can someone give me a stalker?" Thalia wooped. Nico rolled his eyes, and Percy blushed.

"She gave it to me okay?" Percy defended. "And besides, it was a nice picture."

**She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place. See, Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's weird that way. **

"Children of Athena take after their mother," Poseidon smirked knowingly. Athena started to rant in Ancient Greek, and poor Jason, Frank, and Hazel looked really confused. Nico and Leo were both adding new swear words to their mental list.

**She'd e-mailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn't just been my imagination.** **I wished Annabeth were here. **

"I always wish you were with me Wise Girl," Percy said, drawing Annabeth closer. If any more Percabeth happened, Aphrodite was seriously going to spontaneously combust. Piper looked in slight jealously at the cuddling couple. Why didn't Jason ever say anything like that? Her mom seemed to read her thought, and smiled knowingly.

**She'd know what to make of my dream. I'd never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me, even if she was annoying sometimes.**

"Only annoying sometimes? Please, how about all the time?" Nico asked incredulously. A huge wave came and knocked him off the couch, and when he got up, Annabeth was next to him with her knife at his throat. He gulped and sat back down. Hera was impressed that Jackson would protect his girlfriend like that.

**I was about to close my notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.**

**"Hey!" I protested.**

**Sloan checked out the picture and his eyes got wide. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your-"**

"Did he think you were hot?" Jason asked. Percy nodded sheepishly. Jason turned to look at Annabeth's boyfriend. "What did you do to him?"

**"Give it back!" My ears felt hot.**

"Dude, you were so clueless for so many years…." Grover shook his head. "I tried, I really did." Aphrodite beamed at him, and Grover looked pleased to have the love goddesses attention. Leo snapped a picture to show to a certain tree nymph later.

**Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.**

"That was your clue!" Hazel shook her head. "I can't believe you're still alive."

**"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare me. "I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."**

"Tyson?" Annabeth said to Percy quietly. He nodded, and she wrapped her arms around him.

**"He's not retarded." I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.**

"Do it! I hate love!" A very bored Ares screamed. Everyone had forgotten he as still there, and from the look on his girlfriends face, he was going to pay later.

**"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."**

**His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them, but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.**

**Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who I really was …**

"Then you would kick his butt, blah blah," Dionysus proclaimed, looking up from his coke can.

**The bell rang.**

**As Tyson and I were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"**

Annabeth buried her face in Percy's shoulder, and everyone finally understood. Most of the people laughed, except for Athena, who was scandalized her daughter had been looking at Percy through his bedroom window.

**I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying me any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling my name.**

"Percy is hot, but I am hotter!" Leo exclaimed, like he had been waiting for this opportunity all day(He probably had.)

**Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things, a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Tyson and me along with them. It was time for PE. Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodgeball game, and Matt Sloan had promised to kill me.**

**The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. Fortunately, we did most of our athletic stuff inside, so we didn't have to jog through Tribeca looking like a bunch of boot-camp hippie children.**

"Man, blackmail," Hermes said dreamily. "How I love you blackmail, you complete me,"

**I changed as quickly as I could in the locker room because I didn't want to deal with Sloan. I was about to leave when Tyson called, "Percy?"**

**He hadn't changed yet. He was standing by the weight room door, clutching his gym clothes. "Will you … uh …"**

**"Oh. Yeah." I tried not to sound aggravated about it. "Yeah, sure, man."**

**Tyson ducked inside the weight room. I stood guard outside the door while he changed. I felt kind of awkward doing this, but he asked me to most days. I think it's because he's completely hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that I've never had the courage to ask him about.**

"Percy, get a clue!" Apollo exclaimed.

"Yeah, even Apollo can see it!" Artemis teased playfully. Her brother just growled.

**Anyway, I'd learned the hard way that if people teased Tyson while he was dressing out, he'd get upset and start ripping the doors off lockers.**

**When we got into the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his little desk reading Sports Illustrated. Nunley was about a million years old, with bifocals and no teeth and a greasy wave of gray hair. He reminded me of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood-which was a shriveled-up mummy-except Coach Nunley moved a lot less and he never billowed green smoke. Well, at least not that I'd observed.**

As everyone laughed, Percy whispered a few choice words under his breath. Why was this still in his POV? Why?

**Matt Sloan said, "Coach, can I be captain?"**

**"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."**

**Sloan grinned and took charge of the picking. He made me the other team's captain, but it didn't matter who I picked, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to Sloan's side. So did the big group of visitors.**

"You are so screwed," Thalia said in amazement. "It's always you isn't it?" Percy shook his head mournfully, while Annabeth laughed and punched him in the shoulder. Ah, just like the good old days…..

**On my side I had Tyson, Corey Bailer the computer geek, Raj Mandali the calculus whiz, and a half dozen other kids who always got harassed by Sloan and his gang. Normally I would've been okay with just Tyson-he was worth half a team all by himself-but the visitors on Sloan's team were almost as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, and there were six of them.**

**Matt Sloan spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.**

**"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."**

**I looked at him. "What smells funny?" Because I didn't figure he was talking about himself.**

"Perseus, did you honestly still not know?" Poseidon asked. He shook his head at Percy's embarrassed shrug, and continued reading.

**"Them." Tyson pointed at Sloan's new friends. "Smell funny."**

**The visitors were cracking their knuckles, eyeing us like it was slaughter time. I couldn't help wondering where they were from. Someplace where they fed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks.**

**Sloan blew the coach's whistle and the game began. Sloan's team ran for the center line. On my side, Raj Mandali yelled something in Urdu, probably "I have to go potty!" and ran for the exit. Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of my team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.**

"Yeah, hate to break it to you, but that won't work honey," Leo said in his old grandmother voice. Hephaestus smiled at his son. A sense of humor is always a good thing.

**"Tyson," I said. "Let's g-"**

**A ball slammed into my gut. I sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.**

**My eyesight was fuzzy. I felt like I'd just gotten the Heimlich maneuver from a gorilla. I couldn't believe anybody could throw that hard.**

**Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"**

**I rolled as another dodgeball whistled past my ear at the speed of sound.**

"Actually, the speed of sound…" Athena launched into a long lecture, and Poseidon nodded at Hermes to cover her mouth.

"Am I like that?" Annabeth asked.

"Yep, but I love you anyways," Percy replied, kissing the top of her head. Aphrodite nearly lost it at that.

**Whooom!**

**It hit the wall mat, and Corey Bailer yelped.**

**"Hey!" I yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill somebody!"**

**The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at me evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now … even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"**

**The way he said my name sent a chill down my back. Nobody called me Perseus except those who knew my true identity. Friends … and enemies.**

**What had Tyson said? They smell funny.**

**Monsters.**

"His brain works!" Thalia and Nico exclaimed.

"It has always worked, just not very well," Annabeth said, smirking. The rest of the demigods sounded like they were at a rap battle. Oh snap….

**All around Matt Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.**

**Matt Sloan dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who …"**

**The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past Raj Mandali just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. Raj and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.**

**"Let them go!" I yelled at the giants.**

"Fatal flaw," Annabeth said, glancing at Percy. "But I am glad it is, or I would probably be dead." The rest of the room had to admit, that was true.

**The one called Joe Bob growled at me. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvs Babycakes. "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"**

**He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line-but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.**

**"Coach!" I yelled.**

"Watch him not see anything," Frank interjected.

**Nunley looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. That's the problem with mortals. A magical force called the Mist obscures the true appearance of monsters and gods from their vision, so mortals tend to see only what they can understand. Maybe the coach saw a few eighth graders pounding the younger kids like usual. Maybe the other kids saw Matt Sloan's thugs getting ready to toss Molotov cocktails around. (It wouldn't have been the first time.) **

"Seriously?" Athena asked, disgusted. Hermes had finally removed his hand. When Percy nodded, she muttered something about "Schools these days…"

**At any rate, I was pretty sure nobody else realized we were dealing with genuine man-eating bloodthirsty monsters.**

**"Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice."**

**And he went back to his magazine.**

**The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. I dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past my shoulder.**

**"Corey!" I screamed.**

**Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.**

**"Run!" I told my teammates. "The other exit!"**

**They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.**

"I can't fight magic," Percy admitted. Annabeth nodded.

"Not many people can."

**"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"**

**He launched his own fireball. My teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.**

**I reached for Riptide, which I always kept in my pocket, but then I realized I was wearing gym shorts. I had no pockets. Riptide was tucked in my jeans inside my gym locker. And the locker room door was sealed. I was completely defenseless.**

"You have the worst luck young half-blood," Hestia acknowledged, speaking up since the first time after break.

**Another fireball came streaking toward me. Tyson pushed me out of the way, but the explosion still blew me head over heels. I found myself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, my tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the center line, two hungry giants were glaring down at me.**

**"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.**

**"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of me just as they threw their balls.**

"Hehehehe, balls," All the immature gods and demigods laughed at this, and their special ladies all glared.

**"Tyson!" I screamed, but it was too late.**

**Both balls slammed into him … but no … he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures on a regular basis, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour. He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests**

**The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame-a sure sign they were monsters, all right. Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of trouble cleaning up after a fight.**

At this point, Leo was really laughing, and the rest of the demigods were rolling their eyes.

"Seaweed Brain," You can guess who said that.

**"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"**

**"Tyson!" I said. "Look out!"**

**Another comet hurtled toward us. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM!**

**Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.**

Artemis started off on s long rant about boys, at which Aphrodite stopped by spraying perfume in her face. Before a catfight erupted, Poseidon started reading again.

**Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.**

**Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The headmaster, the police, somebody would come help us.**

**"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"**

**I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodgeball game way too seriously, but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other three giants followed his lead.**

Annabeth sucked in a breath, even though she was there. After Tartarus, she couldn't bear the thought of loosing Percy again. Her boyfriend curled his arms m ore snugly around her and whispered comforting things.

**I knew we were dead. Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands had to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. Without my sword …**

**I had a crazy idea.**

**I ran toward the locker room.**

**"Move!" I told my teammates. "Away from the door."**

**Explosions behind me. Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and blasted them to ashes.**

**That left two giants still standing.**

**A third ball hurtled straight at me. I forced myself to wait-one Mississippi, two Mississippi-then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door.**

**Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge WHOOOOOOOM!**

"That was pretty smart." Athena admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you," Persassy flipped his hair, or tried to, because his hair was cut so short.

**The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.\**

'"TMI," Piper grimaced.

**I turned just in time to see Tyson punch Skull Eater in the face. The giant crumpled. But the last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his own ball, waiting for an opportunity. He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him.**

**"No!" I yelled.**

**The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.**

**"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"**

"Is it wrong I'm laughing so hard?" Nico asked between gasps, as he, Thalia, and Leo rolled on the floor. Percy and Annabeth just laughed.

"It was pretty funny," Annabeth said.

**He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson.**

**"Stop!" I yelled. "It's me you want!"**

**The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"**

**I had to do something. Riptide had to be around here somewhere.**

**Then I spotted my jeans in a smoking heap of clothes right by the giant's feet. If I could only get there…. I knew it was hopeless, but I charged.**

"Oh dear gods," Poseidon sucked in a breath even though Percy was right there.

**The giant laughed. "My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die.**

**Suddenly the giant's body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn-no, not a horn-the glowing tip of a blade.**

"And this is where Annabeth comes in!" Thalia said, smiling brightly. "How many times have you saved his ass?"

"Language!" Nico shouted, covering Hazel's ears.

"Thanks for saving me Wise Girl," Percy said kissing her, completely oblivious to everyone around him.

**The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.**

**He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset.**

"I hope Babycakes has a good love life." Aphrodite said randomly. Everyone looked at her strangely.

**Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.**

"Monsters Percy, gods," Annabeth complained. "Why is that word so hard to get into your head?"

**Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth, as if he dimly recognized her from my notebook picture. "That's the girl … That's the girl-"**

**Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat. "And you," she told him, "lay off my friend."**

"Yeah!" the whole room shouted.

**The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.**

**"Annabeth …" I stammered. "How did you … how long have you …"**

**"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."**

**"The shadow I saw this morning-that was-" My face felt hot. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"**

"Awkward," Hazel said. Percabeth blushed, and Aphrodite screeched.

"That is such a creepy thing to do," Frank said.

**"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to-"**

**"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.**

**"Meet me outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand. "You'd better bring him."**

"I didn't realize how rude I was, sorry," Annabeth apologized to Percy.

"I know the reason now Wise Girl," Percy said understandingly.

**"What?"**

**"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"**

**She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished.**

**That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.**

**"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What … how …"**

**Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."**

**Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"**

"And Percy is going to be expelled," Grover pronounced.

**Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck-he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."**

**The other adults turned toward me. I knew they would never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.**

**I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.**

"Well, um, the was exciting," Poseidon said, at loss for words. Everyone around him was engaged in their own little conversations. "Who wants to read next?"

**Yay! Persassy! :)Thanks for reading, please review/follow/favorite! IMPORTANT: I will take suggestions in the reviews.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! Sorry again for the wait, I have two words: School Sucks. Anyway, make SURE TO READ THE AUTHORS NOTE AT THE BOTTOM! IMPORTANT STUFF! On to the reading!**

**Disclaimer: Dang, I don't own PJO  
**

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Poseidon cleared his throat and asked the question, louder this time. "Who wants to read?" This time, Hermes raised his hand, the book was passed in-between gods.

_**Jeez Annabeth, have you ever heard of tact? Percy gets pretty mad at you…..**_

"What exactly does that mean?" Piper asked the question everyone was thinking, Annabeth blushed and snuggled up to Percy, whispering "Sorry,"

**Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.**

**"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson**

**Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.**

"More than me?" Grover asked, offended.

Percy smiled at the satyr. "Course not G-man, we are best friends!" Grover nodded, looking satisfied. Hera secretly admired the way Percy treated his friends.

**But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.**

**"He's my friend," I told her.**

**"Is he homeless?"**

"Annabeth!" Athena looked disapprovingly at her daughter.

"I had a bad interaction with Cyclops before, so I'm sorry!" Was the retort, and Percy glared at Athena, like he would protect Annabeth from anything.

**"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"**

**She looked surprised. "He can talk?"**

**"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."**

"You aren't pretty, you're gorgeous," Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear, laughing as she blushed and the love goddess giggled. Nico and Thalia made gagging motions behind the lovebirds back.

**"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.**

"Here's another note," Hermes said.

_**Blah blah blah, Annabeth hates Tyson….**_

Annabeth looked like was going to protest but decided against it.

**"Here." Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."**

**She looked even worse than I'd realized at first. Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks.**

"What were they from? Hellhound?" Leo questioned, ADHD taking control. The victim nodded, rubbing absentmindedly at her legs.

**"What are you looking for?" I asked.**

**All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.**

Jason cringed. "I hope you beat him up later,"

Percy grinned evilly. "Sadly, no, but now he's working at McDonalds." The whole throne room laughed, few feeling remorse.

**"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.**

**"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."**

**"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"**

**As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it. She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!**

"Oh, how fun," Hazel said, taken aback. Frank laughed and pulled her close.

"Arion is a lot more fun isn't he?"

**That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.**

**She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.**

**For a moment, nothing happened.**

**Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space-bubbling red liquid like blood. **

"Blood?" Ares snapped out of his slumber like state. Zeus rolled his eyes and motioned for more reading.

**Then a car erupted from the ooze.**

**It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door-something like GYAR SSIRES-but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.**

"I hate those ladies," Thalia shivered. Percabeth nodded fervently to that thought.

**The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"**

**"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.**

**"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"**

**She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.**

**What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?**

"Ouch," Piper murmured. Percy had the grace to looked ashamed, and cursed the gods for about the millionth time that it was in his POV.

**"Extra pay," Annabeth promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."**

**"Done!" the woman screamed.**

Hermes clicked his tongue. "Better bargaining next time,"

**Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.**

**The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy-no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving … Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.**

**The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"**

**She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!**

**I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate … yet.**

"It honestly gets worse? Oh my gods," Frank said. The mentioned demigods just shrugged, suggesting "Whaddya do?"

**The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"**

**"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.**

**Wait a minute. Give her the eye?**

"One eye?" Nico exclaimed. "That is gross!" Most everyone in the room agreed with him.

**I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.**

**"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."**

**"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"**

**"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.**

**The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"**

**"Brake!" yelled Anger.**

**Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.**

The whole room sucked in a breath. Percy and Annabeth closed their eyes and gripped each others hands tighter.

**"Excuse me," I said. "But … can you see?"**

**"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.**

**"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.**

**"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.**

"I'm so confused," Apollo said dumbly. Artemis sighed.

"Of course you are brother,"

**I looked at Annabeth. "They're blind?"**

**"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."**

**"One eye?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Each?"**

**"No. One eye total."**

**Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."**

**"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was not something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"**

"A garbage bag! Sweet!" Leo exclaimed. Piper was retching next to Jason. Percy and Annabeth shook their heads quickly.

"No, anything but sweet," Annabeth said, shuddering.

**The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.**

**"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."**

**"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"**

**"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."**

"Annabeth, he's obviously a Seaweed Brain, did you really expect him to get it?" Athena chastised. Annabeth sheepishly shook her head, and Seaweed Brain looked offended.

**"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"**

**"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"**

"Aw," Jason said, looking pretty disappointed.

**"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.**

**"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"**

**"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"**

**"But I'm driving, you old hag!"**

**"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"**

**Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.**

The campers who were at the Battle of Manhattan looked down.

**The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.**

**Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"**

**Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.**

**"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "we're going to die!"**

"Good point, listen to him!" Hermes yelled at the book.

**"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."**

"Lies," Annabeth said, smirking.

"Worst decision you've ever made," Percy agreed.

**This coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured. We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.**

**"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"**

**"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"**

**"The location you seek!" Tempest added.**

**Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"**

"Ask what?" Zeus said. He was really getting into the story now.

**"What?" I said. "What location? I'm not seeking any-"**

**"Nothing!" Tempest said.** "You're** right, boy. It's nothing!"**

**"Tell me."**

**"No!" they all screamed.**

**"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.**

**"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.**

**"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that-give it back!"**

**"No!" yelled Anger.**

**"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"**

**She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. **

"Ew!" Was the deafening sound heard from most everyone in the room. Percy turned green just at the memory, causing Annabeth to kiss him softly.

**Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.**

**I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.**

Aphrodite suddenly dropped to floor.

"She fainted!" Piper cried. Hephaestus raced to his wife's side, and Ares just continued polishing his knife. Hermes figured will Aphrodite was shut up, might as well read.

**"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.**

**"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.**

**"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.**

**"I don't have it!" I said.**

**"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"**

**"I'm not picking that up!"**

**The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.**

**"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.**

**"Annabeth," I yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"**

"Did he just…" Hazel at Annabeth, horrified. Annabeth grimly shook her head yes.

**"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"**

**Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.**

**At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.**

The whole throne room gave Percy a slow clap, acknowledging his _extreme_ bravery.

**"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"**

**"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"**

**"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"**

**I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.**

**"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."**

"Like Kronos!" Leo exclaimed excitedly. The elder gods sighed. Why was it always Kronos?

**"First they have to tell me," I said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."**

**"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"**

**"I'm rolling down the window."**

**"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"**

**They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.**

"Coordinates!" Poseidon sang. Athena just glared. Stupid smart-ass sea god.

**"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"**

**"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"**

**We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest-Thalia's tree, which contained the life force of a fallen hero.**

"That's right, a hero," Thalia looked pretty pleased with herself.

**"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"**

**I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.**

**The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"**

**She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.**

**Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."**

**"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."**

**"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."**

**I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.**

**At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.**

"Attack?" Ares looked up again, just realizing his lover was on the floor. Hermes looked around for the next reading victim, and Percy and Annabeth went out for a breath of fresh air, all the eyeball talk making feel sick.

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**Not my best work ;( Thanks for reading. Please please please review, I know how many of you have read it!**

**Opinion: I am thinking of doing like a Valentines Day advent, posting everyday starting tomorrow and going to Valentines Day. It would include all canon couples. Would you guys read it? I'm doing it anyway, but please tell me in the review whether you would read it or not. Thanks again!\**

**Goal reviews: 100 by Valentines Day!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! Thanks for looking at my Valentines Day story, it means a lot! Here is the next chapter, thanks for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Dang, I wish I owned PJO**

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Hephaestus popped out of his throne and kneeled next to his wife. Ares honestly could have cared less that his girlfriend was unconscious. Aphrodite slowly sat up with Hephaestus's help, and walked back to her throne, snapping her fingers to fix her hair and make-up. As she sat down, Percy and Annabeth walked back in, and Hermes passed the book off to a unwilling Zeus. Zeus sighed, and read Aphrodite's note.

_**Yay! Talking like an old married couple! And Percy, celery is good, practically no fat…..**_

A look of pure terror passed over Percy's face as he buried it in his hands. Annabeth, who was snuggled up to him on the couch, started laughing hysterically. The other demigods and gods looked confused, but Aphrodite smiled at the mention of married. Someday, she thought.

**I woke up in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. Annabeth sat next to me, tacking into the wind.**

**I tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy.**

**"Rest," she said. "You're going to need it."**

**"Tyson … ?"**

**She shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."**

"This must have been after the Princess Andromeda blew up, and we thought Tyson had died," Percy quickly explained before anymore questions were asked.

**We were silent while the waves tossed us up and down.**

**"He may have survived," she said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."**

**I nodded, but I had no reason to feel hopeful. I'd seen that explosion rip through solid iron. If Tyson had been down in the boiler room, there was no way he could've lived.**

**He'd given his life for us, and all I could think about were the times I'd felt embarrassed by him and had denied that the two of us were related.**

"Don't feel bad Percy, at least you didn't insult him to his face." Annabeth whispered, having the grace to be embarrassed.

"No need to worry Wise Girl, he totally loves you now,"

**Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed me some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage-Hermes's thermos (now empty),a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. She'd fished me out of the water and found my knapsack, bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of my stuff had floated away, but I still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course I had Riptide. The ballpoint pen always appeared back in my pocket no matter where I lost it.**

Leo looked up, seriously considering trying to duplicate Riptide.

**We sailed for hours. Now that we were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too-as if a thunderstorm were coming. **

Zeus puffed up his chest, and made it rain, causing all the demigods except Percy and Jason to screech and cover their heads.

**Or something even more dangerous. I knew what direction we needed to go. I knew we were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of our destination. But that didn't make me feel any less lost.**

**No matter which way we turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into my eyes. We took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading ourselves with the sail as best we could. And we talked about my latest dream of Grover.**

**By Annabeth's estimate, we had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming my dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.**

Everyone looked at Grover for one minute, then the throne room exploded in laughs. Grover turned a dark shade of red.

"Bhahahaha," He bleated darkly. "I still can't believe he thought I was a lady Cyclops."

**"Yeah," I said bitterly. "You can never trust a Cyclops."**

**Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."**

**I tried to stay mad at her, but it wasn't easy. We'd been through a lot together. She'd saved my life plenty of times. It was stupid of me to resent her.**

"Saved you more times then you can count," Annabeth sighed.

"Yeah, well Percy can't count very high," Nico retorted, earning him a high-five from Thalia. Percy just laughed.

**I looked down at our measly possessions-the empty wind thermos, the bottle of multivitamins. I thought about Luke's look of rage when I'd tried to talk to him about his dad.**

**"Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?"**

**She pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't-"**

**"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?"**

**"Knowledge isn't always good for you."**

Athena glared at Annabeth, but Poseidon found himself agreeing with the girl.

**"Your mom is the wisdom goddess!"**

"Valid point," Frank acknowledged.

**"I know! But every time heroes learn the future, they try to change it, and it never works."**

**"The gods are worried about something I'll do when I get older," I guessed. "Something when I turn sixteen."**

Percy grimaced. That prophecy was honestly old news, and he really didn't want to think about it anymore. Annabeth leaned in closer to him. "Think on the bright side, we became a couple on your birthday." Percy had to agree that was one of the best things that ever happened to him, and he kissed Annabeth passionately. Aphrodite was having a seizure from all the cuteness.

**Annabeth twisted her Yankees cap in her hands. "Percy, I don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three-the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."**

"Pff, more like weak," Nico teased his cousin. Percy shot him a warning glare.

**"Why?"**

**"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it."**

**I let that sink in. I don't get seasick, but suddenly I felt ill. "That's why Kronos didn't kill me last summer."**

**She nodded. "You could be very useful to him. If he can get you on his side, the gods will be in serious trouble."**

**"But if it's me in the prophecy-"**

"Thank the gods its not me," Thalia said. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you didn't want the prophecy, but neither did I!"

**"We'll only know that if you survive three more years. That can be a long time for a half-blood. When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think. Until you came along."**

**On our port side, a spiky green dorsal fin about fifteen feet long curled out of the water and disappeared.**

"Wow, um, that was nonchalant," Jason said confused.

"You just kinda get used to it, being the son of the sea god," Percy said, shrugging.

**"This kid in the prophecy … he or she couldn't be like, a Cyclops?" I asked. "The Big Three have lots of monster children."**

**Annabeth shook her head. "The Oracle said 'half-blood.' That always means half-human, half-god. There's really nobody alive who it could be, except you."**

**"Then why do the gods even let me live? It would be safer to kill me."**

**"You're right."**

Zeus pounced on that offer. "All in favor of killing the sea spawn?" he asked. No one raised their hands, but the demigods stood in a circle around Percy with their weapons out. The king god just sighed and sat down again. The demigods relaxed.

**"Thanks a lot."**

**"Percy, I don't know. I guess some of the gods would like to kill you, but they're probably afraid of offending Poseidon."**

"Heck yeah, I am fierce," Poseidon struck a pose, causing Athena to whap him on the head. The half bloods were amazed about how much Poseidon was like Percy.

**Other gods … maybe they're still watching you, trying to decide what kind of hero you're going be. You could be a weapon for their survival, after all. The real question is … what will you do in three years? What decision will you make?"**

**"Did the prophecy give any hints?"**

**Annabeth hesitated.**

**Maybe she would've told me more, but just then a seagull swooped down out of nowhere and landed on our makeshift mast. Annabeth looked startled as the bird dropped a small cluster of leaves into her lap.**

**"Land," she said. "There's land nearby!"**

Percy moaned. The dreaded moment was coming closer and closer.

Thalia and Nico rubbed their hands together excitedly. Oh, how much fun this blackmail would be!

**I sat up. Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. Another minute and I could make out an island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats.**

**The current was pulling our rowboat toward what looked like a tropical paradise.**

"Well that's pretty cool," Piper said.

"It was a beautiful place," Annabeth acknowledged.

**"Welcome!" said the lady with the clipboard.**

**She looked like a flight attendant-blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. **

"Perfect makeup?" Aphrodite snapped out of her Percabeth daydream.

**She shook our hands as we stepped onto the dock. With the dazzling smile she gave us, you would've thought we'd just gotten off the Princess Andromeda rather than a banged-up rowboat.**

**Then again, our rowboat wasn't the weirdest ship in port. Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three-masted sailing ship. There was a helipad with a "Channel Five Fort Lauderdale" helicopter on it, and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter. Maybe they were replicas for tourists to look at or something.**

"Or not," Annabeth whispered darkly under her breath. The whole throne room was tense, excited for what was coming.

**"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.**

**Annabeth and I exchanged looks. Annabeth said, "Umm …"**

**"First-time-at-spa," the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard. "Let's see …"**

**She looked us up and down critically. "Mmm. An herbal wrap to start for the young lady. And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."**

"You know, a new-" Aphrodite got cut of by Ares before she could start rattling off makeover ideas. With a huff, she flounced back down in her seat, and Percy gave Ares a thankful look, probably the only time he would ever do so.

**"A what?" I asked.**

**She was too busy jotting down notes to answer.**

**"Right!" She said with a breezy smile. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."**

**Now here's the thing. Annabeth and I were used to traps, and usually those traps looked good at first. So I expected the clipboard lady to turn into a snake or a demon, or something, any minute. But on the other hand, we'd been floating in a rowboat for most of the day. I was hot, tired, and hungry, and when this lady mentioned a luau, my stomach sat up on its hind legs and begged like a dog.**

"Oh, you guys are screwed," Apollo said, all while flashing his bright smile.

"Trap, celery, vegetables, why?" Could be heard from where Percabeth was sitting.

**"I guess it couldn't hurt," Annabeth muttered.**

"Mhmmm, keep telling yourself that," Percy grumbled darkly.

**Of course it could, but we followed the lady anyway. I kept my hands in my pockets where I'd stashed my only magic defenses-Hermes's multivitamins and Riptide- but the farther we wandered into the resort, the more I forgot about them.**

**The place was amazing. There was white marble and blue water everywhere I looked. Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by watersides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.**

**Tyson loved horses, and I knew he'd love those fountains. I almost turned around to see the expression on his face before I remembered: Tyson was gone.**

**"You okay?" Annabeth asked me. "You look pale."**

**"I'm okay," I lied. "Just … let's keep walking."**

"You should never lie to me Seaweed Brain, I can see right through you," Annabeth informed Percy.

"That would have been good to know when I threw you that surprise party!" Percy protested. Annabeht laughed and kissed him.

"I liked it anyway,"

**We passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. The resort guests-only young women, as far as I could see-lounged in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while herbal gunk dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.**

**As we headed up a staircase toward what looked like the main building, I heard a woman singing. Her voice drifted through the air like a lullaby. Her words were in some language other than Ancient Greek, but just as old-Minoan, maybe, or something like that. I could understand what she sang about-moonlight in the olive groves, the colors of the sunrise. And magic. Something about magic. Her voice seemed to lift me off the steps and carry me toward her.**

"Oh boy," Hazel murmured. Annabeth was barely holding in her laughter now. Percy was looking more and more disgruntled by the second, while everyone else was unknowingly leaning forward in anticipation.

**We came into a big room where the whole front wall was windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive-looking white furniture, and on a table in one corner was a large wire pet cage. The cage seemed out of place, but I didn't think about it too much, because just then I saw the lady who'd been singing … and whoa.**

**She sat at a loom the size of a big screen TV, her hands weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill. The tapestry shimmered like it was three dimensional-a waterfall scene so real I could see the water moving and clouds drifting across a fabric sky.**

**Annabeth caught her breath. "It's beautiful."**

Athena huffed. "Surely not as beautiful as mine?" Annabeth quickly backtracked, praising Athena's work extensively. Zeus got bored real fast and moved on with the reading.

**The woman turned. She was even prettier than her fabric. Her long dark hair was braided with threads of gold. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a silky black dress with shapes that seemed to move in the fabric: animal shadows, black upon black, like deer running through a forest at night.**

"Did you just-" Annabeth's words were cut off with a long kiss. Aphrodite had her phone out, alternating between snapping selfies and taking pictures of the couple.

**"You appreciate weaving, my dear?" the woman asked.**

**"Oh, yes, ma'am!" Annabeth said. "My mother is-"**

**She stopped herself. You couldn't just go around announcing that your mom was Athena, the goddess who invented the loom. Most people would lock you in a rubber room.**

"You probably need that," most of the demigods said in unison. Percy just rolled his eyes.

**Our hostess just smiled. "You have good taste, my dear. I'm so glad you've come. My name is C.C."**

**The animals in the corner cage started squealing. They must've been guinea pigs, from the sound of them.**

**We introduced ourselves to C.C. She looked me over with a twinge of disapproval, as if I'd failed some kind of test. Immediately, I felt bad. For some reason, I really wanted to please this lady.**

"Dear lord, you guys are in deep," Piper said.

**"Oh, dear," she sighed. "You do need my help."**

**"Ma'am?" I asked.**

**C.C. called to the lady in the business suit. "Hylla, take Annabeth on a tour, will you? Show her what we have available. The clothing will need to change. And the hair, my goodness. We will do a full image consultation after I've spoken with this young gentleman."**

"Hylla?" Jason's voice shifted to a higher octave, and Percy made a shushing movement.

**"But …" Annabeth's voice sounded hurt. "What's wrong with my hair?"**

"Nothing," Percy whispered, playing with. Annabeth smacked it out of his hands.

**C.C. smiled benevolently. "My dear, you are lovely. Really! But you're not showing off yourself or your talents at all. So much wasted potential!"**

**"Wasted?"**

**"Well, surely you're not happy the way you are! My goodness, there's not a single person who is. But don't worry. We can improve anyone here at the spa. Hylla will show you what I mean. You, my dear, need to unlock your true self!"**

**Annabeth's eyes glowed with longing. I'd never seen her so much at a loss for words. **

"When Percy kisses you," Grover and Thalia started providing information about when Annabeth was at loss for words. There were some very, um, interesting ones that made Annabeth blush.

**"But … what about Percy?"**

**"Oh, definitely," C.C. said, giving me a sad look. "Percy requires my personal attention. He needs much more work than you."**

**Normally if somebody had told me that, I would've gotten angry, but when C.C. said it, I felt sad. I'd disappointed her. I had to figure out how to do better.**

**The guinea pigs squealed like they were hungry.**

Percy grimaced.

**"Well …" Annabeth said. "I suppose …"**

**"Right this way, dear," Hylla said. And Annabeth allowed herself to be led away into the waterfall-laced gardens of the spa.**

**C.C. took my arm and guided me toward the mirrored wall. "You see, Percy … to unlock your potential, you'll need serious help. The first step is admitting that you're not happy the way you are."**

"Oh my," Piper widened her eyes. "That's…..nice, I guess."

**I fidgeted in the front of the mirror. I hated thinking about my appearance-like the first zit that had cropped up on my nose at the beginning of the school year, or the fact that my two front teeth weren't perfectly even, or that my hair never stayed down straight.**

"Don't worry Percy, I think you're perfectly attractive," Aphrodite smiled at Percy, who was covered by Annabeth, who gave a glare to the love goddess. Aphrodite could barely contain her excitement.

**C.C.'s voice brought all of these things to mind, as if she were passing me under a microscope. And my clothes were not cool. I knew that.**

**Who cares? Part of me thought. But standing in front of C.C.'s mirror, it was hard to see anything good in myself.**

**"There, there," C.C. consoled. "How about we try … this."**

**She snapped her fingers and a sky-blue curtain rolled down over the mirror. It shimmered like the fabric on her loom.**

**"What do you see?" C.C. asked.**

**I looked at the blue cloth, not sure what she meant. "I don't-"**

**Then it changed colors. I saw myself-a reflection, but not a reflection. Shimmering there on the cloth was a cooler version of Percy Jackson-with just the right clothes, a confident smile on my face. My teeth were straight. No zits. A perfect tan. More athletic. Maybe a couple of inches taller. It was me, without the faults.**

"That's actually pretty cool," Nico admitted. Percy nodded.

"It was really weird though,"

**"Whoa," I managed.**

**"Do you want that?" C.C. asked. "Or shall I try a different-"**

**"No," I said. "That's … that's amazing. Can you really-"**

**"I can give you a full makeover," C.C. promised.**

**"What's the catch?" I said. "I have to like … eat a special diet?"**

**"Oh, it's quite easy," C.C. said. "Plenty of fresh fruit, a mild exercise program, and of course … this."**

By this time, Annabeth had started crying, she was laughing so hard. Even Dionysus was paying attention.

**She stepped over to her wet bar and filled a glass with water. Then she ripped open a drink-mix packet and poured in some red powder. The mixture began to glow. When it faded, the drink looked just like a strawberry milk shake.**

**"One of these, substituted for a regular meal," C.C. said. "I guarantee you'll see results immediately."**

**"How is that possible?"**

**She laughed. "Why question it? I mean, don't you want the perfect you right away?"**

**Something nagged at the back of my mind. "Why are there no guys at this spa?"**

"Because they are pigs." Artemis replied, which caused Annabeth to practically fall out of her chair.

Percy looked at the moon goddess. "You have no idea how right you are,"

**"Oh, but there are," C.C. assured me. "You'll meet them quite soon. Just try the mixture. You'll see."**

**I looked at the blue tapestry, at the reflection of me, but not me.**

**"Now, Percy," C.C. chided. "The hardest part of the makeover process is giving up control. You have to decide: do you want to trust your judgment about what you should be, or my judgment?"**

**My throat felt dry. I heard myself say, "Your judgment."**

Nobody was breathing in anticipation.

**C.C. smiled and handed me the glass. I lifted it to my lips.**

**It tasted just like it looked-like a strawberry milk shake. Almost immediately a warm feeling spread through my gut: pleasant at first, then painfully hot, searing, as if the mixture were coming to a boil inside of me.**

**I doubled over and dropped the cup. "What have you … what's happening?"**

"A very fun change," Annabeth giggled. Percy buried his face in his hands.

**"Don't worry, Percy," C.C. said. "The pain will pass. Look! As I promised. Immediate results."**

**Something was horribly wrong.**

**The curtain dropped away, and in the mirror I saw my hands shriveling, curling, growing long delicate claws. Fur sprouted on my face, under my shirt, in every uncomfortable place you can imagine. My teeth felt too heavy in my mouth. My clothes were getting too big, or C.C. was getting too tall-no, I was shrinking.**

**In one awful flash, I sank into a cavern of dark cloth. I was buried in my own shirt. I tried to run but hands grabbed me-hands as big as I was. I tried to scream for help, but all that came out of my mouth was, "Reeet, reeet, reeet!"**

Everyone looked at each other, "What are you Percy?" Leo asked. He got no reply.

**The giant hands squeezed me around the middle, lifting me into the air. I struggled and kicked with legs and arms that seemed much too stubby, and then I was staring, horrified, into the enormous face of C.C.**

**"Perfect!" her voice boomed. I squirmed in alarm, but she only tightened her grip around my furry belly. "See, Percy? You've unlocked your true self!"**

**She held me up to the mirror, and what I saw made me scream in terror, "Reeet, reeet, reeet!" There was C.C., beautiful and smiling, holding a fluffy, bucktoothed creature with tiny claws and white and orange fur. When I twisted, so did the furry critter in the mirror. I was … I was …**

**"A guinea pig,"**

The room exploded in laughter. Thalia and Nico were probably laughing the hardest. "Is that why you like vegetables Perce?" Grover teased.

"Shut up," was heard from Percy's direction, Annabeth smiled and slipped her hand in his.

**C.C. said. "Lovely, aren't you? Men are pigs, Percy Jackson. I used to turn them into real pigs, but they were so smelly and large and difficult to keep. Not much different than they were before, really. Guinea pigs are much more convenient! Now come, and meet the other men."**

'She like, does this for a hobby?" Hazel said horrified. "And to other men too?" Percy nodded, not removing his heads from his hands.

**"Reeet!" I protested, trying to scratch her, but C.C. squeezed me so tight I almost blacked out.**

**"None of that, little one," she scolded, "or I'll feed you to the owls. Go into the cage like a good little pet. Tomorrow, if you behave, you'll be on your way. There is always a classroom in need of a new guinea pig."**

**My mind was racing as fast as my tiny little heart. I needed to get back to my clothes, which were lying in a heap on the floor. If I could do that, I could get Riptide out of my pocket and … And what? I couldn't uncap the pen. Even if I did, I couldn't hold the sword.**

Leo started to laugh hysterically, thinking about a guinea pig holding a sword. He was so going to invent rodent swords.

**I squirmed helplessly as C.C. brought me over to the guinea pig cage and opened the wire door.**

**"Meet my discipline problems, Percy," she warned. "They'll never make good classroom pets, but they might teach you some manners. Most of them have been in this cage for three hundred years. If you don't want to stay with them permanently, I'd suggest you-"**

**Annabeth's voice called: "Miss C.C.?"**

"Yeah Annabeth!" Hermes cried. Poseidon looker thankful that someone was going to save his son.

**C.C. cursed in Ancient Greek. She plopped me into the cage and closed the door. I squealed and clawed at the bars, but it was no good. I watched as C.C. hurriedly kicked my clothes under the loom just as Annabeth came in.**

**I almost didn't recognize her. She was wearing a sleeveless silk dress like C.C.'s, only white. Her blond hair was newly washed and combed and braided with gold. Worst of all, she was wearing makeup, which I never thought Annabeth would be caught dead in. I mean, she looked good. Really good. I probably would've been tongue-tied if I could've said anything except reet, reet, reet. But there was also something totally wrong about it. It just wasn't Annabeth.**

"Thanks Percy," Annabeth said softly. He brought his head up and wrapped his arm around her.

"I like you just the way you are,"

**She looked around the room and frowned. "Where's Percy?"**

**I squealed up a storm, but she didn't seem to hear me.**

**C.C. smiled. "He's having one of our treatments, my dear. Not to worry. You look wonderful! What did you think of your tour?"**

**Annabeth's eyes brightened. "Your library is amazing!"**

"Oh my gods, just figure out were Percy is!" Nico exclaimed. Annabeth blushed.

"It was a really cool library!"

**"Yes, indeed," C.C. said, "The best knowledge of the past three millennia. Anything you want to study, anything you want to be, my dear."**

**"An architect?"**

**"Pah!" C.C. said. "You, my dear, have the makings of a sorceress. Like me."**

**Annabeth took a step back. "A sorceress?"**

"C.C.," Athena was muttering, while Annabeth smirked slightly, for she knew something her mom didn't.

**"Yes, my dear." C.C. held up her hand. A flame appeared in her palm and danced across her fingertips. "My mother is Hecate, the goddess of magic. I know a daughter of Athena when I see one. We are not so different, you and I. We both seek knowledge. We both admire greatness. Neither of us needs to stand in the shadow of men."**

**"I-I don't understand."**

**Again, I squealed my best, trying to get Annabeth's attention, but she either couldn't hear me or didn't think the noises were important. **

**Meanwhile, the other guinea pigs were emerging from their hutch to check me out. I didn't think it was possible for guinea pigs to look mean, but these did. There were half a dozen, with dirty fur and cracked teeth and beady red eyes. They were covered with shavings and smelled like they really had been in here for three hundred years, without getting their cage cleaned.**

"Oooo," Hephaestus said. "A self cleaning cage would be nice." He stared to tinker with metal in his lap.

**"Stay with me," C.C. was telling Annabeth. "Study with me. You can join our staff, become a sorceress, learn to bend others to your will. You will become immortal!"**

**"But-"**

**"You are too intelligent, my dear," C.C. said. "You know better than to trust that silly camp for heroes. How many great female half-blood heroes can you name?"**

**"Um, Atalanta, Amelia Earhart-"**

**"Bah! Men get all the glory." C.C. closed her fist and extinguished the magic flame. "The only way to power for women is sorcery. Medea, Calypso, now there were powerful women! And me, of course. The greatest of all."**

**"You … C.C. … Circe!"**

"Aha!" Athena exclaimed. The rest of the room looked sympathetic. Percy and Annabeth were now facing a sorceress. Leo was really paying attention now, hoping for another mention of Calypso.

**"Yes, my dear."**

**Annabeth backed up, and Circe laughed. "You need not worry. I mean you no harm."**

**"What have you done to Percy?"**

**"Only helped him realize his true form."**

**Annabeth scanned the room. Finally she saw the cage, and me scratching at the bars, all the other guinea pigs crowding around me. Her eyes went wide.**

"You were a funny looking guinea pig," Annabeth informed Percy.

"Thanks."

**"Forget him," Circe said. "Join me and learn the ways of sorcery."**

**"But-"**

**"Your friend will be well cared for. He'll be shipped to a wonderful new home on the mainland. The kindergartners will adore him. Meanwhile, you will be wise and powerful. You will have all you ever wanted."**

"You were going to be a classroom pet?" Frank asked incredulously.

**Annabeth was still staring at me, but she had a dreamy expression on her face. She looked the same way I had when Circe enchanted me into drinking the guinea pig milk shake. I squealed and scratched, trying to warn her to snap out of it, but I was absolutely powerless.**

**"Let me think about it," Annabeth murmured. "Just… give me a minute alone. To say good-bye."**

"Smart," Athena acknowledged, nodding at Annabeth. Everyone else was just confused.

**"Of course, my dear," Circe cooed. "One minute. Oh … and so you have absolute privacy …" She waved her hand and iron bars slammed down over the windows. She swept out of the room and I heard the locks on the door click shut behind her.**

**The dreamy look melted off Annabeth's face.**

**She rushed over to my cage. "All right, which one is you?**

**I squealed, but so did all the other guinea pigs. Annabeth looked desperate. She scanned the room and spotted the cuff of my jeans sticking out from under the loom.**

**Yes!**

**She rushed over and rummaged through my pockets.**

**But instead of bringing out Riptide, she found the bottle of Hermes multivitamins and started struggling with the cap.**

Hermes nodded at Annabeth and smiled. "Oh, how I love my multivitamins, good for anything!"

**I wanted to scream at her that this wasn't the time for taking supplements! She had to draw the sword!**

**She popped a lemon chewable in her mouth just as the door flew open and Circe came back in, flanked by two of her business-suited attendants.**

**"Well," Circe sighed, "how fast a minute passes. What is your answer, my dear?"**

**"This," Annabeth said, and she drew her bronze knife.**

**The sorceress stepped back, but her surprise quickly passed. She sneered. "Really, little girl, a knife against my magic? Is that wise?"**

"No," Jason said. "Probably not." Annabeth was really smirking now.

**Circe looked back at her attendants, who smiled. They raised their hands as if preparing to cast a spell.**

**Run! I wanted to tell Annabeth, but all I could make were rodent noises. The other guinea pigs squealed in terror and scuttled around the cage. I had the urge to panic and hide, too, but I had to think of something! I couldn't stand to lose Annabeth the way I'd lost Tyson.**

"Aw," Aphrodite and Piper cooed, Piper looked at her mom and blushed. Stupid Aphrodite.

**"What will Annabeth's makeover be?" Circe mused. "Something small and ill-tempered. I know … a shrew!"**

**Blue fire coiled from her fingers curling like serpents around Annabeth.**

**I watched, horror-struck, but nothing happened. Annabeth was still Annabeth, only angrier. She leaped forward and stuck the point of her knife against Circe's neck. "How about turning me into a panther instead? One that has her claws at your throat!"**

**"How!" Circe yelped.**

**Annabeth held up my bottle of vitamins for the sorceress to see.**

**Circe howled in frustration. "Curse Hermes and his multivitamins! Those are such a fad! They do nothing for you."**

Hermes looked a little offended. Annabeth reassured him. "Don't worry Lord Hermes, they save us in the end."

**"Turn Percy back to a human or else!" Annabeth said.**

**"I can't!"**

**"Then you asked for it."**

**Circe's attendants stepped forward, but their mistress said, "Get back! She's immune to magic until that cursed vitamin wears off."**

**Annabeth dragged Circe over to the guinea pig cage, knocked the top off, and poured the rest of the vitamins inside.**

**"No!" Circe screamed.**

**I was the first to get a vitamin, but all the other guinea pigs scuttled out, too, and checked out this new food.**

"So basically you are releasing Percy, along with some other men who you have no idea who they are?" Hera asked. Percy answered for his girlfriend.

"Pretty much,"

**The first nibble, and I felt all fiery inside. I gnawed at the vitamin until it stopped looking so huge, and the cage got smaller, and then suddenly, bang! The cage exploded. I was sitting on the floor, a human again-somehow back in my regular clothes, thank the gods-with six other guys who all looked disoriented, blinking and shaking wood shavings out of their hair.**

**"No!" Circe screamed. "You don't understand! Those are the worst!"**

'You've got to be kidding me," Poseidon moaned.

**One of the men stood up-a huge guy with a long tangled pitch-black beard and teeth the same color. He wore mismatched clothes of wool and leather, knee-length boots, and a floppy felt hat. The other men were dressed more simply-in breeches and stained white shirts. All of them were barefoot.**

**"Argggh!" bellowed the big man. "What's the witch done t'me!"**

**"No!" Circe moaned.**

**Annabeth gasped. "I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?"**

"What? Did someone say my name?" Ares snapped out of his bored stupor.

**"Aye, lass," the big man growled. "Though most call me Blackbeard! And there's the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!"**

**Circe screamed. She and her attendants ran from the room, chased by the pirates.**

**Annabeth sheathed her knife and glared at me.**

**"Thanks …" I faltered. "I'm really sorry-"**

**Before I could figure out how to apologize for being such an idiot, she tackled me with a hug, then pulled away just as quickly. "I'm glad you're not a guinea pig."**

Aphrodite was making snazzy motions with her arms in all the cuteness. Percabeth just cringed.

"We were really awkward," Percy said.

**"Me, too." I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt.**

**She undid the golden braids in her hair.**

**"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said. "We have to get away while Circe's distracted."**

Percy heaved a huge breath, no that the torture was over. But he was wrong.

"Hey, hey Percy, do you want some celery for lunch?" Nico taunted.

Let the teasing begin.

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**Thanks for reading guys! Please review, they make me happy and I will always take suggestions!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating, I've had a really crappy week. Skip the next part if you don't want to hear me rant.**

**My laptop is not working very well (It's ancient, literally like 7 years old) so I'm waiting until I've saved enough money for a new one, because it's having issues loading to fan . No one at my school voted me to be part of a leadership club, which all my friends are in. I got my first B on a major paper, but at least I still have a 4.0 GPA, I think. I have my Royal Academy of Dance exam coming up on Wednesday, along with two tests in school, and I suck at ballet, and it's my first exam. Oh yeah, and I have a cold, so I have completely lost my voice, and have gotten no sleep. I sound like a dying frog.**

**I love y'all if you read that, so sorry. Please, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, or else I would date Leo myself.**

* * *

"Should we read again?" Hestia quietly interjected. Percy could have kneeled and praised the gods, as Nico, Thalia, and Leo were being merciless in their teasing. Athena raised her hand to read, and Annabeth knitted her eyebrows suspiciously. With her mom reading, anything could happen. Brushing aside her concerns, she snuggled in closer to her boyfriend, who still had his head in his hands. Aphrodite rubbed her hands together conspiringly. Just Annabeth wait, her turn was coming up.

_**Someone sang Annabeth a very convincing song, so much, she wanted to swim. Percy to the rescue as always.**_

A small gasp came out of Annabeth's lips, and she sat right up. Everyone looked concerned for the daughter of Athena, except for Percy, who had been there. He rubbed her arms comfortingly, and Athena figured it was probably a good time to read.

**"Wh-what is it?" I rubbed my eyes. "What's wrong?"**

**"Land," she said grimly. "We're approaching the island of the Sirens."**

"Quick recap," Percy butted in. "I stole a pirate ship form Circe's island, and we escaped on that into the Sea of Monsters." At the words Sirens, the smarter people in the room looked sympathetic as realization dawned on them. The not smarter people, well, they were still confused from the note at the beginning.

**I could barely make out the island ahead of us-just a dark spot in the mist.**

**"I want you to do me a favor," Annabeth said. "The Sirens … we'll be in range of their singing soon."**

**I remembered stories about the Sirens. They sang so sweetly their voices enchanted sailors and lured them to their death.**

**"No problem," I assured her. "We can just stop up our ears. There's a big tub of candle wax below deck-"**

"Good idea," Athena whispered quietly. Poseidon looked up with a delighted smile.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" He asked sweetly. Athena cursed, but repeated in louder. Percy and his dad crossed their arms, pleased.

**"I want to hear them."**

"Are you stupid?" Practically the whole room looked at the gray eyed girl. She held her hands up.

"Not the best idea I've ever had," Annabeth acknowledged. Percy nodded fervently next to her, and a loud smack was heard. Beaten, Percy settled back down with Annabeth, while Piper took notes on how to cute.

**I blinked. "Why?"**

**"They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive … you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?"**

"Like never again, which is good," Jason said. Annabeth groaned.

"I get it, I get it, it wasn't the greatest idea. But you guys don't even know what is going to happen yet!" Percy glared playfully at Jason, making the latter raise his arms in surrender. On he could insult his girlfriend, he thought, kissing her on the head. Aphrodite was having spasms in her chair, and they weren't even halfway through yet.

**Coming from most people, this would've made no sense. But Annabeth being who she was-well, if she could struggle through Ancient Greek architecture books and enjoy documentaries on the History Channel, I guessed the Sirens would appeal to her, too.**

"Is that an insult?" Hermes asked.

Percy shrugged. "Not really to Annabeth,"

**She told me her plan. Reluctantly, I helped her get ready.**

**As soon as the rocky coastline of the island came into view, I ordered one of the ropes to wrap around Annabeth's waist, tying her to the foremast.**

**"Don't untie me," she said, "no matter what happens or how much I plead. I'll want to go straight over the edge and drown myself."**

"And then I could have blamed Poseidon," Athena looked pretty thrilled with that idea.

"Do you really think I would let my sons best friend, now girlfriend, drown?" Poseidon shot back. That stumped the wisdom goddess for a minute.

Hazel had spent the entire time wondering what her siren vision would look like. She wasn't sure, but if she knew one thing, it was that it would include Frank.

**"Are you trying to tempt me?"**

**"Ha-ha."**

**I promised I'd keep her secure. Then I took two large wads of candle wax, kneaded them into earplugs, and stuffed my ears.**

**Annabeth nodded sarcastically, letting me know the earplugs were a real fashion statement. I made a face at her and turned to the pilot's wheel.**

"Earplugs can be cute when in pink!" Aphrodite trilled. Grover shook his head.

"Not on Percy,"

**The silence was eerie. I couldn't hear anything but the rush of blood in my head. As we approached the island, jagged rocks loomed out of the fog. I willed the Queen Anne's Revenge to skirt around them. If we sailed any closer, those rocks would shred our hull like blender blades.**

"Blender shredding? Sweet!" Ares exclaimed. Frank looked pained, like he coldnt believe he was related to that thing.

**I glanced back. At first, Annabeth seemed totally normal. Then she got a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened.**

**She strained against the ropes. She called my name-I could tell just from reading her lips. Her expression was clear: She had to get out. This was life or death. I had to let her out of the ropes right now.**

"Don't do it," Thalia warned.

"Thals, do you think I'm stupid? Actually, don't answer that," Percy looked back at Annabeth, who looked scared to see what the others would think regarding her dream.

**She seemed so miserable it was hard not to cut her free.**

"Lovers even then," Nico made a heart shape with his hands. Hades throw up a little inside when he saw his son, the GHOST King, do that.

**I forced myself to look away. I urged the Queen Anne's Revenge to go faster.**

**I still couldn't see much of the island-just mist and rocks-but floating in the water were pieces of wood and fiberglass, the wreckage of old ships, even some flotation cushions from airplanes.**

**How could music cause so many lives to veer off course? I mean, sure, there were some Top Forty songs that made me want to take a fiery nosedive, but still … What could the Sirens possibly sing about?**

"Hey!" Apollo exclaimed. "I wrote most of those Top forty songs!"

"I meant in joy!" Percy backtracked. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Weak save, Seaweed Brain."

"Don't judge, you are all Wise Girl," Annabeth tucked her head against Percy's chiseled chest, which, by the way, is anyone asks, she did not just say.

**For one dangerous moment, I understood Annabeth's curiosity. I was tempted to take out the earplugs, just to get a taste of the song. I could feel the Sirens' voices vibrating in the timbers of the ship, pulsing along with the roar of blood in my ears.**

**Annabeth was pleading with me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She strained against the ropes, as if they were holding her back from everything she cared about.**

**How could you be so cruel? She seemed to be asking me. I thought you were my friend.**

"I bet that was hard not to let her go," Hestia spoke up.

"One of the hardest things I've ever done. The look on her face was absolute heartbreak, and I always want to make my Wise Girl happy." Percy smiled down at Annabeth, who was getting more and more nervous about the fatal flaw showing. Both Athena and Hera, surprisingly, grinned at Percy for his thoughtfulness. Piper took out a camera to film for the Percabeth Hall of Fame.**

**I glared at the misty island. I wanted to uncap my sword, but there was nothing to fight. How do you fight a song?**

**I tried hard not to look at Annabeth. I managed it for about five minutes.**

"Still can't," Grover said loudly. But he was ignored by Percy, who was making out with his beautiful girlfriend. Leo and Nico were having a hard time containing their gag reflexes.

**That was my big mistake.**

**When I couldn't stand it any longer, I looked back and found … a heap of cut ropes. An empty mast. Annabeth's bronze knife lay on the deck. Somehow, she'd managed to wriggle it into her hand. I'd totally forgotten to disarm her.**

"Nice going Sherlock," Dionysus spoke up. Everyone raised an eyebrow at him. "What? I only like to listen to mistakes?"

**I rushed to the side of the boat and saw her, paddling madly for the island, the waves carrying her straight toward the jagged rocks.**

**I screamed her name, but if she heard me, it didn't do any good. She was entranced, swimming toward her death.**

"Another soul for me to control." Hades shook his head. "Good thing you didn't die, girl."

A loud sucking sound was made as Percabeth detached themselves. "Um, thanks?" Annabeth replied.

**I looked back at the pilot's wheel and yelled, "Stay!"**

**Then I jumped over the side.**

**I sliced into the water and willed the currents to bend around me, making a jet stream that shot me forward.**

"That's the coolness of water," Poseidon pointed out. Percy definitely agreed.

**I came to the surface and spotted Annabeth, but a wave caught her, sweeping her between two razor-sharp fangs of rock.**

**I had no choice. I plunged after her.**

**I dove under the wrecked hull of a yacht, wove through a collection of floating metal balls on chains that I realized afterward were mines.**

"Dear gods, you are lucky they didn't blow up!" Hazel was certainly impressed with Percy's ability to live.

**I had to use all my power over water to avoid getting smashed against the rocks or tangled in the nets of barbed wire strung just below the surface.**

**I jetted between the two rock fangs and found myself in a half-moon-shaped bay. The water was choked with more rocks and ship wreckage and floating mines. The beach was black volcanic sand.**

**I looked around desperately for Annabeth.**

**There she was.**

**Luckily or unluckily, she was a strong swimmer.**

"Yeah, not as good as you though," Annabeth told Percy.

"Well, mine comes with the description," Percy joked, flexing his muscles.

**She'd made it past the mines and the rocks. She was almost to the black beach.**

**Then the mist cleared and I saw them-the Sirens.**

**Imagine a flock of vultures the size of people-with dirty black plumage, gray talons, and wrinkled pink necks. Now imagine human heads on top of those necks, but the human heads keep changing.**

**I couldn't hear them, but I could see they were singing. As their mouths moved, their faces morphed into people I knew-my mom, Poseidon, Grover, Tyson, Chiron. All the people I most wanted to see.**

"No Annabeth?" Piper asked.

"She was right in front of me so…"

**They smiled reassuringly, inviting me forward. But no matter what shape they took, their mouths were greasy and caked with the remnants of old meals. Like vultures, they'd been eating with their faces, and it didn't look like they'd been feasting on Monster Donuts.**

"Those things are addicting," Leo hopped up and down like he'd eaten 20.

**Annabeth swam toward them.**

**I knew I couldn't let her get out of the water. The sea was my only advantage. It had always protected me one way or another. I propelled myself forward and grabbed her ankle.**

**The moment I touched her, a shock went through my body, and I saw the Sirens the way Annabeth must've been seeing them.**

Annabeth started hitting her head on the edge of the couch. Percy grabbed her before she could do any more damage.

"Hey, don't mess up the beautiful head of yours, no one will judge you for what you saw,"

"I know, it's just so embarrassing," Annabeth cried out.

"Welcome to the club," Percy muttered.

**Three people sat on a picnic blanket in Central Park. A feast was spread out before them. I recognized Annabeth's dad from photos she'd shown me-an athletic-looking, sandy-haired guy in his forties. **

"I thought you didn't like your dad?" Thalia questioned.

Annabeth blushed lightly. "I didn't, but I wanted things to work out between us,"

**He was holding hands with a beautiful woman who looked a lot like Annabeth. She was dressed casually-in blue jeans and a denim shirt and hiking boots-but something about the woman radiated power. I knew that I was looking at the goddess Athena. **

Now it was Athena's turn to blush.

"You know that will never happen," She pointed out to Annabeth.

"I knew, but I used to dream about it all the time." Each word looked painful for Annabeth to say. Percy just laughed and held her closer.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite was brainstorming on her throne. "What's your dads name?" She asked Annabeth suddenly.

"Um, Fredrick Chase,"

Fredena, that was a good couple name.

**Next to them sat a young man … Luke.**

Piper looked confused. "No Percy?"

"He was there, he just couldn't see himself," Annabeth looked really embarrassed to be revealing her life story. Percy was glad he was in her vision, he had always wondered about that.

**The whole scene glowed in a warm, buttery light. The three of them were talking and laughing, and when they saw Annabeth, their faces lit up with delight. Annabeth's mom and dad held out their arms invitingly. Luke grinned and gestured for Annabeth to sit next to him-as if he'd never betrayed her, as if he were still her friend.**

"In the end he was," Grover whispered silently. The demigods had a moment of silence for the dead hero, and Hermes let a single tear run down his cheek.

**Behind the trees of Central Park, a city skyline rose. I caught my breath, because it was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It had been totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever-with golden windows and rooftop gardens. It was better than New York. Better than Mount Olympus.**

"Not anymore," Athena smiled at her daughter warmly. Everyone else agreed with her.

**I knew immediately that Annabeth had designed it all. She was the architect for a whole new world. She had reunited her parents. She had saved Luke. She had done everything she'd ever wanted.**

"Well, there was more, but you just didn't see it," Annabeth blurted. She covered her mouth as if realizing she would have to explain now.

"What was it?" Frank ventured forward.

"I'll tell you in private later," She murmured in Percy's ear. Leo raised his eyebrows suggestively.

**I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, all I saw were the Sirens-ragged vultures with human faces, ready to feed on another victim.**

**I pulled Annabeth back into the surf. I couldn't hear her, but I could tell she was screaming. She kicked me in the face, but I held on.**

"Did I really? I'm so sorry!" Annabeth looked shocked that she had done that. Percy just smiled and kissed her, so she figured she was forgiven.

**I willed the currents to carry us out into the bay. Annabeth pummeled and kicked me, making it hard to concentrate. She thrashed so much we almost collided with a floating mine. I didn't know what to do. I'd never get back to the ship alive if she kept fighting.**

Both Poseidon and Athena looked worried for their kids, even though they were right there in front of them.

**We went under and Annabeth stopped struggling. Her expression became confused. Then our heads broke the surface and she started to fight again.**

**The water! Sound didn't travel well underwater. If I could submerge her long enough, I could break the spell of the music. **

"That was a good idea," Annabeth said, looking at Percy in surprise. He bowed cheekily.

**Of course, Annabeth wouldn't be able to breathe, but at the moment, that seemed like a minor problem.**

"Minor? Do you actually like your girlfriend Jackson?" Jason teased.

"Just a little," Percy taunted, and leaned in to kiss her passionately. Athena cleared her throat and Percabeth broke apart, blushing.

**I grabbed her around the waist and ordered the waves to push us down.**

**We shot into the depths-ten feet, twenty feet. I knew I had to be careful because I could withstand a lot more pressure than Annabeth. She fought and struggled for breath as bubbles rose around us.**

"I still feel bad about that, I really do like you to breath." Annabeth just smiled at her apologetic boyfriend.

**Bubbles.**

**I was desperate. I had to keep Annabeth alive. I imagined all the bubbles in the sea-always churning, rising. I imagined them coming together, being pulled toward me.**

**The sea obeyed. There was a flurry of white, a tickling sensation all around me, and when my vision cleared, Annabeth and I had a huge bubble of air around us. **

"Like your guys first real kiss!" Aphrodite was squealing now. Athena looked only slightly murderous at the thought of Annabeth in her enemies territory, kissing her enemies son.

**Only our legs stuck into the water.**

**She gasped and coughed. Her whole body shuddered, but when she looked at me, I knew the spell had been broken.**

**She started to sob-I mean horrible, heartbroken sobbing. She put her head on my shoulder and I held her.**

"That was sweet, Percy," Hestia acknowledged.

"Thank you Lady Hestia," Out of all the Olympians, Percy for sure had the best relationship with the goddess of the hearth.

**Fish gathered to look at us-a school of barracudas, some curious marlins.**

**Scram! I told them.**

**They swam off, but I could tell they went reluctantly. I swear I understood their intentions. They were about to start rumors flying around the sea about the son of Poseidon and some girl at the bottom of Siren Bay.**

"Ahem, sexytimes, ahem." Leo coughed. Hera looked positively scandalized by such a thought, while Hephaestus just smirked. It was good to see his ungrateful mother shocked.

**"I'll get us back to the ship," I told her. "It's okay. Just hang on."**

**Annabeth nodded to let me know she was better now, then she murmured something I couldn't hear because of the wax in my ears.**

"What was that, Annabeth? Did you just say I love you?" Nico teased.

"I actually said thank you, for not judging and saving me."

**I made the current steer our weird little air submarine through the rocks and barbed wire and back toward the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was maintaining a slow and steady course away from the island.**

**We stayed underwater, following the ship, until I judged we had moved out of earshot of the Sirens. Then I surfaced and our air bubble popped.**

**I ordered a rope ladder to drop over the side of the ship, and we climbed aboard.**

**I kept my earplugs in, just to be sure.**

Athena nodded once again. Smart, she thought, but then shook her head. She wasn't supposed to like this sea spawn.

**We sailed until the island was completely out of sight. Annabeth sat huddled in a blanket on the forward deck. Finally she looked up, dazed and sad, and mouthed, safe.** **I took out the earplugs. No singing. The afternoon was quiet except for the sound of the waves against the hull. The fog had burned away to a blue sky, as if the island of the Sirens had never existed.**

**"You okay?" I asked. The moment I said it, I realized how lame that sounded. Of course she wasn't okay.**

"How observant Percy," Aphrodite practically swooned off of her throne. Annabeth rolled her eyes. Yeah, Percy was observant when pigs fly. But then she realized that some pigs actually do fly, and had to use her had to cover her laughter.

**"I didn't realize," she murmured.**

**"What?"**

**Her eyes were the same color as the mist over the Sirens' island. "How powerful the temptation would be."**

**I didn't want to admit that I'd seen what the Sirens had promised her. I felt like a trespasser. But I figured I owed it to Annabeth.**

**"I saw the way you rebuilt Manhattan," I told her. "And Luke and your parents."**

**She blushed. "You saw that?"**

"I thought you saw yourself, so I was scared you would think I was a creep or something."

Percy looked down. "I would have liked to see myself, actually."

**"What Luke told you back on the Princess Andromeda, about starting the world from scratch … that really got to you, huh?"**

**She pulled her blanket around her. "My fatal flaw. That's what the Sirens showed me. My fatal flaw is hubris."**

**I blinked. "That brown stuff they spread on veggie sandwiches?"**

Giggles filled the room. Percy was practically the color of tomatoes. Of course it mentioned all of his embarrassing moments. Of course.

Artemis was mentally adding to the list of why boys are lame and you don't need them.

**She rolled her eyes. "No, Seaweed Brain. That's hummus. Hubris is worse."**

**"What could be worse than hummus?"**

"Hummus is good!" Grover looked very offended at that statement.

**"Hubris means deadly pride, Percy. Thinking you can do things better than anyone else … even the gods."**

Zeus growled.

**"You feel that way?"**

**She looked down. "Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."**

**"I'm listening."**

"Summer reading homework is amazing! You get to read all summer!" Everyone just stared at the wisdom goddess.

**"I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did-that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?"**

**"Um … no. Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare."**

"Yeah, that's kinda an underestimate." Annabeth said. Percy gasped in mock offense.

**"Then you're lucky. Hubris isn't your fatal flaw."**

**"What is?"**

"Loyalty!" Thalia sang out.

**"I don't know, Percy, but every hero has one. If you don't find it and learn to control it … well, they don't call it 'fatal' for nothing."**

**I thought about that. It didn't exactly cheer me up.**

**I also noticed Annabeth hadn't said much about the personal things she would change-like getting her parents back together, or saving Luke. I understood. I didn't want to admit how many times I'd dreamed of getting my own parents back together.**

Percy and Poseidon looked at each other, and then looked away. Awkward. Aphrodite decided that Pallydon would be a cute thing is Saul didn't already exist.

**I pictured my mom, alone in our little apartment on the Upper East Side. I tried to remember the smell of her blue waffles in the kitchen. It seemed so far away.**

**"So was it worth it?" I asked Annabeth. "Do you feel … wiser?"**

**She gazed into the distance. "I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke …"**

**She didn't need to finish. If Luke's way of thinking could even tempt Annabeth, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him.**

"Too many," Thalia said sadly.

**I thought about my dream of the girl and the golden sarcophagus. I wasn't sure what it meant, but I got the feeling I was missing something. Something terrible that Kronos was planning. What had the girl seen when she opened that coffin lid?**

**Suddenly Annabeth's eyes widened. "Percy."**

**I turned.**

**Up ahead was another blotch of land-a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows-just like I'd seen in my dreams.**

**My nautical senses confirmed it. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.**

**We had reached the home of the Cyclops.**

"Oh no, I almost forgot about that," Grover whimpered. Annabeth sighed in relief, glad that her chapter was over. Everyone settled down even more, ready to hear what came next.

* * *

**Well, not some of my best work. But thank for reading, and please review with suggestions, or follow and favorite!**

**If Nico seems a little OOC, like maybe too happy, let me explain. I think Percy will find out about Nico's crush on him, but being as caring as he is, will except him even more, and they will become closer friends because of it. Kinda like Thomas and Jimmy from Downton Abbey, if you watch that show. (You should, it's amazing!)**

****I will write a story about the viewing of the Percabeth Hall of Fame, put together by the Aphrodite cabin.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me, it's been a long time. You know how I said I was sick in the last chapter? Well, I have pneumonia. I am typing on a new computer, so the format might be a little different. Anyway, here's the last moment from The Sea of Monsters!**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, dammit.**

* * *

Surprisingly, Dionysus raised his hand to read. Everyone looked at him suspiciously.

"What? If the goat boy gets eaten, I want to see." Grover cocked his head, unsure if that was a compliment or not.

_**This is after the Cyclops cave-**_

The book was thrown across the room violently. The wine god dipped his head back behind his wine magazine. Hestia decided to pick up the book and continue on.

_**..and obviously, they all lived!**_

"Yay," Hades muttered sarcastically.

**The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled. We'd all figured they were history now that Tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that Chiron was back and the camp was safe.**

"The party ponies were there? Dude, I love them!" Hermes exclaimed.

**Tyson wasn't too keen on the idea of getting back in a chariot after our first experience, but he was happy to let me team up with Annabeth. I would drive, Annabeth would defend, and Tyson would act as our pit crew. While I worked with the horses, Tyson fixed up Athena's chariot and added a whole bunch of special modifications.**

"Like what?" Leo and Hephaestus both questioned.

"Like a bunch of crap that even Annabeth didn't understand," Percy replied. Annabeth smacked his shoulder.

"You could ask him next time you see him," Annabeth replied more nicely than her boyfriend.

**We spent the next two days training like crazy. Annabeth and I agreed that if we won, the prize of no chores for the rest of the month would be split between our two cabins. Since Athena had more campers, they would get most of the time off, which was fine by me. I didn't care about the prize. I just wanted to win.**

"Of course you did," Thalia snorted. "But I probably would have won**."**

Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeth, kissing her softly. "We are the winning team, and we would have crushed you."

"With the power of love," Aphrodite said dreamily. Hephaestus and Ares were both wondering why they liked her, and Piper was trying to make it as known as possible that she was more like her dad.

**The night before the race, I stayed late at the stables. I was talking to our horses, giving them one final brushing, when somebody right behind me said, "Fine animals, horses. Wish I'd thought of them."**

**A middle-aged guy in a postal carrier outfit was leaning against the stable door. He was slim, with curly black hair under his white pith helmet, and he had a mailbag slung over his shoulder.**

**"Hermes?" I stammered.**

"You never told me about this," Annabeth turned to Percy.

"I, uh, forgot or something?"

"Yeah, because when a god visits you, it's really easy to forget." Annabeth replied sarcastically.

**"Hello, Percy. Didn't recognize me without my jogging clothes?"**

**"Uh …" I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to kneel or buy stamps from him or what.**

Nico stifled a laugh. Leo looked at Percy with a new level of admiration.

**Then it occurred to me why he must be here. "Oh, listen, Lord Hermes, about Luke …"**

**The god arched his eyebrows.**

**"Uh, we saw him, all right," I said, "but-"**

**"You weren't able to talk sense into him?"**

**"Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death."**

**"I see. You tried the diplomatic approach."**

"Now, I'm not sure that was really the best approach, you see, words-"Annabeth cut her mom off mid-speech.

"Mom, I know sometimes he isn't the smartest, but he has never done anything too bad, so lay off a little, okay?"

Athena looked a little taken aback, and Annabeth leaned back into the arms of Percy, who kissed her head.

"You didn't have to do that," He muttered. She nodded, and sighed.

"But I felt that I needed to,"

Piper could tell that the telling and reliving of some of her worst (and admittedly best) memories was staring to wear her out, Percy as well.

**"I'm really sorry. I mean, you gave us those awesome gifts and everything. And I know you wanted Luke to come back. But … he's turned bad. Really bad. He said he feels like you abandoned him."**

**I waited for Hermes to get angry. I figured he'd turn me into a hamster or something, and I did not want to spend any more time as a rodent.**

Zeus looked pleased, again, at the idea of his brother's son as a hamster. Percy realized that maybe he shouldn't have thought about it so much, and then people wouldn't keep reading about it.

**Instead, he just sighed. "Do you ever feel your father abandoned you, Percy?"**

**Oh, man.**

**I wanted to say, "Only a few hundred times a day." I hadn't spoken to Poseidon since last summer. I'd never been to his underwater palace. And then there was the whole thing with Tyson-no warning, no explanation. Just boom, you have a brother. You'd think that deserved a little heads-up phone call or something.**

Poseidon looked slightly hurt by that. Percy mentally cursed himself. "Schist," he said in an undertone. He stood up and addressed his father directly.

"This was before I really knew you. Now, you are one of the best dads I have ever seen." Everyone had to agree with that. Jason and Thalia especially wished that their father cared that much.

**The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I realized I did want recognition for the quest I'd completed, but not from the other campers. I wanted my dad to say something. To notice me.**

**Hermes readjusted the mailbag on his shoulder. "Percy, the hardest part about being a god is that you must often act indirectly, especially when it comes to your own children. If we were to intervene every time our children had a problem … well, that would only create more problems and more resentment. But I believe if you give it some thought, you will see that Poseidon has been paying attention to you. He has answered your prayers. I can only hope that some day, Luke may realize the same about me. Whether you feel like you succeeded or not, you reminded Luke who he was. You spoke to him."**

**"I tried to kill him."**

"That's just a little difference," Hazel timidly pointed out. Hermes looked sad to be talking about his son again.

**Hermes shrugged. "Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse … and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."**

"But maiming and killing is fun!" Ares whined.

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate on the Percabeth," Aphrodite shoved her hand across Ares mouth. Hephaestus smiled. Oh yeah, this was why he liked her.

**It didn't sound like much of a recipe for the perfect family. Then again, as I thought about my quest, I realized maybe Hermes was right. Poseidon had sent the hippocampi to help us. He'd given me powers over the sea that I'd never known about before. And there was Tyson. Had Poseidon brought us together on purpose? How many times had Tyson saved my life this summer?**

"Way too many to count," Grover acknowledged. Jason looked up in surprise.

"Is he really that powerful?" Percy nodded.

**In the distance, the conch horn sounded, signaling curfew.**

**"You should get to bed," Hermes said. "I've helped you get into quite enough trouble this summer already. I really only came to make this delivery."**

**"A delivery?"**

**"I am the messenger of the gods, Percy." He took an electronic signature pad from his mailbag and handed it to me. "Sign there, please."**

**I picked up the stylus before realizing it was entwined with a pair of tiny green snakes. "Ah!" I dropped the pad.**

"_Ouch_," A pair of voices came from the throne of Hermes.

**Ouch, said George.**

**Really, Percy, Martha scolded. Would you want to be dropped on the floor of a horse stable?**

**"Oh, uh, sorry." I didn't much like touching snakes, but I picked up the pad and the stylus again. Martha and George wriggled under my fingers, forming a kind of pencil grip like the ones my special ed teacher made me use in second grade.**

"They put you in special ed classes?" Poseidon looked horrified. So did Annabeth. Those teachers better watch their backs.

**Did you bring me a rat? George asked.**

**"No …" I said. "Uh, we didn't find any."**

**What about a guinea pig?**

The whole room snorted, and Percy buried his head in his hands. Annabeth rubbed his back comfortingly, but was smirking herself.

**George! Martha chided. Don't tease the boy.**

**I signed my name and gave the pad back to Hermes.**

**In exchange, he handed me a sea-blue envelope.**

**My fingers trembled. Even before I opened it, I could tell it was from my father. I could sense his power in the cool blue paper, as if the envelope itself had been folded out of an ocean wave.**

**"Good luck tomorrow," Hermes said. "Fine team of horses you have there, though you'll excuse me if I root for the Hermes cabin."**

**And don't be too discouraged when you read it, dear, Martha told me. He does have your interests at heart.**

"Discouraged?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, it wasn't the longest or nicest letter." Poseidon said regretfully.

**"What do you mean?" I asked.**

**Don't mind her, George said. And next time, remember, snakes work for tips.**

**"Enough, you two," Hermes said. "Good-bye, Percy. For now."**

**Small white wings sprouted from his pith helmet. He began to glow, and I knew enough about the gods to avert my eyes before he revealed his true divine form. With a brilliant white flash he was gone, and I was alone with the horses.**

"Who you teach me to ride?" Jason interrupted suddenly.

"Um, they might not like you, but I'll try."

**I stared at the blue envelope in my hands. It was addressed in strong but elegant handwriting that I'd seen once before, on a package Poseidon had sent me last summer.**

**Percy Jackson**

**c/o Camp Half-Blood**

**Farm Road 3.141**

**Long Island, New York 11954**

**An actual letter from my father. Maybe he would tell me I'd done a good job getting the Fleece. He'd explain about Tyson, or apologize for not talking to me sooner. There were so many things that I wanted that letter to say.**

Poseidon winced. He had said none of those things.

**I opened the envelope and unfolded the paper.**

Everyone but Poseidon and Percy leaned forward in their seats. Annabeth was curious what had happened.

"Geez, there seems to be a lot of things you didn't tell me? Anything else?" Annabeth glared playfully at her boyfriend. Percy opened his mouth, and shut it again. She would find out about Rachel when she got to that part. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

**Two simple words were printed in the middle of the page:**

**Brace Yourself**

**Everyone leaned back. **

"Uh, well, okay?" Piper said. Poseidon blushed as he got several glares from the females of his family.

**The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously toward the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering. None did. It was a beautiful summer day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.**

**And I was miserable. I'd been lying awake all night, thinking about Poseidon's warning.**

**Brace yourself.**

**I mean, he goes to the trouble of writing a letter, and he writes two words?**

"Oh gods, sorry Dad," Percy said sheepishly. "It wasn't exactly what I wanted at the time."

"How exactly is this Percabeth?" Thalia questioned. Aphrodite got a look in her eyes that was enough to scare Chuck Norris. "You know what, never mind."

**Martha the snake had told me not to feel disappointed. Maybe Poseidon had a reason for being so vague. Maybe he didn't know exactly what he was warning me about, but he sensed something big was about to happen-something that could completely knock me off my feet unless I was prepared. It was hard, but I tried to turn my thoughts to the race.**

**As Annabeth and I drove onto the track, I couldn't help admiring the work Tyson had done on the Athena chariot. The carriage gleamed with bronze reinforcements. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with hardly a bump. The rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins.**

"Do you still have the chariot?" Leo asked. Percy and Annabeth shook their heads.

**Tyson had also made us two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. The first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. The second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. The third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock onto an enemy's chariot or push it away.**

**I figured we were in pretty good shape for the race, but Tyson still warned me to be careful. The other chariot teams had plenty of tricks up their togas.**

**"Here," he said, just before the race began.**

**He handed me a wristwatch. There wasn't anything special about it-just a white-and-silver clock face, a black leather strap-but as soon as I saw it I realized that this is what I'd seen him tinkering on all summer.**

"Dude, thank to gods for that watch," Grover said. Percabeth agreed. It had saved their lives more times than they could count.

**I didn't usually like to wear watches. Who cared what time it was? But I couldn't say no to Tyson.**

**"Thanks, man." I put it on and found it was surprisingly light and comfortable. I could hardly tell I was wearing it.**

Leo and Hephaestus brought out their notebooks.

**"Didn't finish in time for the trip," Tyson mumbled. "Sorry, sorry."**

**"Hey, man. No big deal."**

**"If you need protection in race," he advised, "hit the button."**

**"Ah, okay." I didn't see how keeping time was going to help a whole lot, but I was touched that Tyson was concerned. I promised him I'd remember the watch. "And, hey, um, Tyson …"**

**He looked at me.**

**"I wanted to say, well …" I tried to figure out how to apologize for getting embarrassed about him before the quest, for telling everyone he wasn't my real brother. It wasn't easy to find the words.**

"That's sweet of you, Perseus," Hestia smiled at her favorite hero. Annabeth hugged him closer. She knew how much Tyson meant to him.

**"I know what you will tell me," Tyson said, looking ashamed. "Poseidon did care for me after all."**

**"Uh, well-"**

**"He sent you to help me. Just what I asked for."**

**I blinked. "You asked Poseidon for … me?"**

**"For a friend," Tyson said, twisting his shirt in his hands. "Young Cyclopes grow up alone on the streets, learn to make things out of scraps. Learn to survive."**

"That's awful!" Hazel cried out.

**"But that's so cruel!"**

**He shook his head earnestly. "Makes us appreciate blessings, not be greedy and mean and fat like Polyphemus. But I got scared. Monsters chased me so much, clawed me sometimes-"**

**"The scars on your back?"**

**A tear welled in his eye. "Sphinx on Seventy-second Street. Big bully."**

"Got that right," Annabeth muttered. "Wouldn't even ask me real questions!" Percy couldn't believe she still cared, but, well, she was Annabeth. Athena looked astounded.

"Seriously? I am going to have some choices words with her." Nobody wanted to be the Sphinx at that moment.

"**I prayed to Daddy for help. Soon the people at Meriwether found me. Met you. Biggest blessing ever. Sorry I said Poseidon was mean. He sent me a brother."**

"He doesn't exactly know how to say it, but he's still grateful." Percy addressed his father. Poseidon felt a little redeemed form earlier.

**I stared at the watch that Tyson had made me.**

**"Percy!" Annabeth called. "Come on!"**

**Chiron was at the starting line, ready to blow the conch.**

**"Tyson …" I said.**

**"Go," Tyson said. "You will win!"**

**"I-yeah, okay, big guy. We'll win this one for you." I climbed on board the chariot and got into position just as Chiron blew the starting signal.**

**The horses knew what to do. We shot down the track so fast I would've fallen out if my arms hadn't been wrapped in the leather reins. Annabeth held on tight to the rail. The wheels glided beautifully. We took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot.**

Hermes started to cheer on his children. Soon, all the gods were picking sides. The demigods looked at each other and realized they would have to stop WW3.

**"We've got 'em!" I yelled, but I spoke too soon.**

**"Incoming!" Annabeth yelled. She threw her first javelin in grappling hook mode, knocking away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled us both. Apollo's chariot had come up on our flank. Before Annabeth could rearm herself, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into our right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of our spokes. **

"Yeah!" Apollo cried. "Um, I mean sorry Percy and Annabeth?

**Our chariot lurched and wobbled. I was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but we somehow kept going.**

**I urged the horses to keep up the speed. We were now neck and neck with Apollo. Hephaestus was coming up close behind. Ares and Hermes were falling behind, riding side by side as Clarisse went sword-on-javelin with Connor Stoll.**

**If we took one more hit to our wheel, I knew we would capsize.**

**"You're mine!" the driver from Apollo yelled. He was a first-year camper. I didn't remember his name, but he sure was confident.**

"Fatal flaw," Nico sung out.

**"Yeah, right!" Annabeth yelled back.**

**She picked up her second javelin-a real risk considering we still had one full lap to go-and threw it at the Apollo driver.**

**Her aim was perfect.**

"Did you really expect anything less, Seaweed Brain?" A hasty nod no form Percy earned him a kiss.

**The javelin grew a heavy spear point just as it caught the driver in the chest, knocking him against his teammate and sending them both toppling out of their chariot in a backward somersault. The horses felt the reins go slack and went crazy, riding straight for the crowd. Campers scrambled for cover as the horses leaped the corner of the bleachers and the golden chariot flipped over. The horses galloped back toward their stable, dragging the upside-down chariot behind them.**

The whole throne room contracted as everybody winced. Apollo stamped his foot.

**I held our own chariot together through the second turn, despite the groaning of the right wheel. We passed the starting line and thundered into our final lap.**

**The axle creaked and moaned. The wobbling wheel was making us lose speed, even though the horses were responding to my every command, running like a well-oiled machine.**

**The Hephaestus team was still gaining.**

**Beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. **

Everyone looked down at the mention of the fallen hero, Hephaestus letting a tear go.

**Steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around our back rail. Our chariot shuddered as Beckendorf's winch system started working-pulling us backward while Beckendorf pulled himself forward.**

"But with the force of motion," Leo started muttering under his breath, so Piper shut him up with charmspeak.

**Annabeth cursed and drew her knife. She hacked at the cables but they were too thick.**

**"Can't cut them.'" she yelled.**

**The Hephaestus chariot was now dangerously close, their horses about to trample us underfoot.**

**"Switch with me!" I told Annabeth. "Take the reins!"**

**"But-"**

**"Trust me!"**

"I will trust you forever," Annabeth whispered, trying to block memories from the pit. Percy saw the look in her eyes, and tried to comfort her. The room was quiet for a minute, watching the couple.

**She pulled herself to the front and grabbed the reins. I turned, trying hard to keep my footing, and uncapped Riptide.**

**I slashed down and the cables snapped like kite string. We lurched forward, but Beckendorf's driver just swung his chariot to our left and pulled up next to us. Beckendorf drew his sword. He slashed at Annabeth, and I parried the blade away.**

**We were coming up on the last turn. We'd never make it. I needed to disable the Hephaestus chariot and get it out of the way, but I had to protect Annabeth, too. Just because Beckendorf was a nice guy didn't mean he wouldn't send us both to the infirmary if we let our guard down.**

"Yeah, sometimes the nicest ones are the most competitive." Nico rubbed his arm and glared at his cousin.

**We were neck and neck now, Clarisse coming up from behind, making up for lost time.**

**"See ya, Percy!" Beckendorf yelled. "Here's a little parting gift!"**

**He threw a leather pouch into our chariot. It stuck to the floor immediately and began billowing green smoke.**

**"Greek fire!" Annabeth yelled.**

**I cursed. I'd heard stories about what Greek fire could do. I figured we had maybe ten seconds before it exploded.**

"Marvelous," Piper whispered sarcastically.

**"Get rid of it!" Annabeth shouted, but I couldn't. Hephaestus's chariot was still alongside, waiting until the last second to make sure their little present blew up. Beckendorf was keeping me busy with his sword. If I let my guard down long enough to deal with the Greek fire, Annabeth would get sliced and we'd crash anyway. I tried to kick the leather pouch away with my foot, but I couldn't. It was stuck fast.**

**Then I remembered the watch.**

**I didn't know how it could help, but I managed to punch the stopwatch button. Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiraling outward like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around my forearm until I was holding a round war shield four feet wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs I didn't have time to examine.**

"Okay, that is really cool," Frank admitted. Leo was gaping open mouthed, already making plans to talk to this Tyson dude.

**All I knew: Tyson had come through. I raised the shield, and Beckendorf's sword clanged against it. His blade shattered.**

**"What?" he shouted. "How-"**

**He didn't have time to say more because I knocked him in the chest with my new shield and sent him flying out of his chariot, tumbling in the dirt.**

Everyone cringed. It still was too soon after his death.

**I was about use Riptide to slash at the driver when Annabeth yelled, "Percy!"**

**The Greek fire was shooting sparks. I shoved the tip of my sword under the leather pouch and flipped it up like a spatula. The firebomb dislodged and flew into the Hephaestus chariot at the driver's feet. He yelped.**

**In a split second the driver made the right choice: he dove out of the chariot, which careened away and exploded in green flames. The metal horses seemed to short-circuit. They turned and dragged the burning wreckage back toward Clarisse and the Stoll brothers, who had to swerve to avoid it.**

Ares and Hermes both groaned and exchanged money.

**Annabeth pulled the reins for the last turn. I held on, sure we would capsize, but somehow she brought us through and spurred the horses across the finish line. The crowd roared.**

Poseidon held his hand up to high five Athena, but seemed to think better of it after the scalding look he received.

**Once the chariot stopped, our friends mobbed us. They started chanting our names, but Annabeth yelled over the noise: "Hold up! Listen! It wasn't just us!"**

**The crowd didn't want to be quiet, but Annabeth made herself heard: "We couldn't have done it without somebody else! We couldn't have won this race or gotten the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy's …"**

**"Brother!" I said, loud enough for everybody to hear. "Tyson, my baby brother."**

Even Zeus smiled at that one. Annabeth remembered how proud of Percy she was that day. And then, she remembered what happened next. A pink blush started to creep up onto her face. Percy was blissfully oblivious.

**Tyson blushed. The crowd cheered. Annabeth planted a kiss on my cheek.**

"Eeeeee," The sound of a dying chipmunk came out of the love goddess's mouth. Percy blushed as well. HE couldn't believe he had forgotten about that.

"First kiss," Aphrodite said dreamily.

"You initiated the first kiss?" Athena seemed surprised at her daughter.

"And the second, and the third," Percy interjected. Annabeth's expression when she looked at him was murderous.

**The roaring got a lot louder after that. The entire Athena cabin lifted me and Annabeth and Tyson onto their shoulders and carried us toward the winner's platform, where Chiron was waiting to bestow the laurel wreaths.**

Hestia closed the book. Percy and Annabeth looked hopeful, thinking maybe it was over.

"Who wants to read the next chapter?" Hestia asked.

* * *

**I feel like the more I write this story, the worst it gets. I will posting a new story either today or tomorrow, so keep your eyes out! Please, please review with suggestions for the first moment from The Titan's Curse, I have no idea what to do. Thanks for following, favoriting, and reviewing!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! So I published my new story last night, and it only got 0 favorites, 0 reviews, and 1 follow. It's called Destroyed, but it used to be called I Will Always Be With You. Ignore the misspelling of Gaea in the first chapter, I will fix it in the second. Go check it out!**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, follows, favorites, and suggestions on this story! We are now over 100 reviews! Yay! I'm so proud of myself for updating so fast, but it's probably because I'm still super sick.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in bold, it belongs to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Demeter raised her hand cautiously. Hestia handed the book over.

"Um, how close to finishing are we?" Percy asked, looking hopeful.

"We are probably an eighth in," Demeter responded. Loud groans came from the couch.

"This is great," Nico said, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

_**Dancing! I love dancing so much.**_

"Well crap," Annabeth muttered. She had forgotten all about the dancing.

**The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school. We picked up my friends Annabeth and Thalia on the way.**

"Why is it still in my POV?" Percy cried.

"Well, now we get to hear your opinion on me," Thalia said. A look of pure terror passed over Percy's face.

"Did you say anything bad?" Annabeth asked him quietly.

"I honestly don't remember, so will you protect me if she tries to hurt me?" Annabeth just laughed and nodded yes.

**It was an eight-hour drive from New York to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn't seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much. Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover Hall, it was getting dark, and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me.**

"Oh, and there were some good ones," Thalia laughed.

"Can I hear one?" Frank asked.

"No, that's okay-," Percy was cut off by Thalia launching into a story about the time when he walked around in Central Park naked. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and he buried his head in Annabeth's shoulder.

**Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."**

**Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.**

**"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" my mother asked.**

**"No, thanks, Mom," I said. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."**

**"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."**

**I hoped I wasn't blushing.**

"You looked like a tomato," Thalia and Annabeth chimed in at the same time.

"Fabulous," Percy declared sarcastically.

**It was bad enough I had to depend on my mom to drive me to my battles.**

"Do you want to see real battles kid?" Ares butted in.

"Not really, I've seen enough in my lifetime," Percy said, a little sadly. The sad fact was, everyone in that room had seen too many battles for just some kids.

**"It's okay, Ms. Jackson." Annabeth smiled reassuringly. Her blond hair was tucked into a ski cap and her gray eyes were the same color as the ocean. "We'll keep him out of trouble."**

**My mom seemed to relax a little. She thinks Annabeth is the most levelheaded demigod ever to hit eighth grade. She's sure Annabeth often keeps me from getting killed.**

"That is true," Hazel looks apologetically at the son of the sea god. Annabeth smiled a smug smile and wrapped her arms around Percy's broad shoulders.

**She's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.**

Percy just sighed in defeat. This book seemed to be against him, he thought melodramatically.

**"All right, dears," my mom said. "Do you have everything you need?"**

**"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thanks for the ride."**

**"Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"**

**"Mom—"**

**"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact camp?"**

**"Mom, seriously! We'll be fine. Come on, guys."**

"That was mean, be nicer to your mother," Hera looked sternly down at Percy.

**She looked a little hurt, and I was sorry about that, but I was ready to be out of that car. If my mom told one more story about how cute I looked in the bathtub when I was three years old, I was going to burrow into the snow and freeze myself to death.**

Jason looked a little wistful. He didn't have any stories from when he was young.

**Annabeth and Thalia followed me outside. The wind blew straight through my coat like ice daggers.**

**Once my mother's car was out of sight, Thalia said, "Your mom is so cool, Percy."**

"Best person in the world," Nico sighed. All the demigods agreed. Poseidon was glad Sally was so like by everybody.

**"She's pretty okay," I admitted. "What about you? You ever get in touch with your mom?"**

Thalia closed her eyes for a minute.

"I'm really sorry, Thals, that was unthoughtful." Percy looked at his cousin with sad eyes.

**As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn't. Thalia was great at giving evil looks, what with the punk clothes she always wears—the ripped-up army jacket, black leather pants and chain jewelry, the black eyeliner and those intense blue eyes. But the look she gave me now was a perfect evil "ten."**

**"If that was any of your business, Percy—"**

"I'm sorry for being so mean about it," Thalia cringed. Percy just nodded his forgiveness.

**"We'd better get inside," Annabeth interrupted. "Grover will be waiting."**

**Thalia looked at the castle and shivered. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."**

**I stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall. "Nothing good," I guessed.**

**The oak doors groaned open, and the three of us stepped into the entry hall in a swirl of snow.**

**All I could say was, "Whoa."**

**The place was huge. The walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a bunch of other stuff. I mean, I knew Westover was a military school and all, but the decorations seemed like overkill. Literally.**

**My hand went to my pocket, where I kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. I could already sense something wrong in this place. Something dangerous. Thalia was rubbing her silver bracelet, her favorite magic item. I knew we were thinking the same thing. A fight was coming.**

"A fight is always coming with you guys isn't it?" Piper just sighed.

**Annabeth started to say, "I wonder where—"**

**The doors slammed shut behind us.**

**"Oo-kay," I mumbled. "Guess we'll stay awhile."**

**I could hear music echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like dance music.**

"Dance?" Apollo's head shot up.

"No, not right now idiot," Artemis was exasperated with her brother.

**We stashed our overnight bags behind a pillar and started down the hall. We hadn't gone very far when I heard footsteps on the stone floor, and a man and woman marched out of the shadows to intercept us.**

**They both had short gray hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had a wispy mustache, and the guy was clean-shaven, which seemed kind of backward to me.**

Everyone laughed except for Aphrodite, who looked scandalized.

**They both walked stiffly, like they had broomsticks taped to their spines.**

**"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"**

**"Um…" I realized I hadn't planned for this. I'd been so focused on getting to Grover and finding out what was wrong, I hadn't considered that someone might question three kids sneaking into the school at night. We hadn't talked at all in the car about how we would get inside. I said, "Ma'am, we're just—"**

"Ma'am?" Grover was very surprised. "You actually called someone ma'am?"

Percy pretended to think for a moment. "I guess I did," That earned him a smack on the arm from his girlfriend.

**"Ha!" the man snapped, which made me jump. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee-jected!"**

**He had an accent—French, maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques, He was tall, with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colors—one brown, one blue—like an alley cat's.**

"That was creepy," Nico admitted. "But it all made sense once we figured out he was-," Thalia quickly put her hand over his mouth.

"Shhh, we don't want to ruin the story,"

**I figured he was about to toss us into the snow, but then Thalia stepped forward and did something very weird.**

"Like always," Jason teased.

**She snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a gust of wind ripple out from her hand, across the room. It washed over all of us, making the banners rustle on the walls.**

**"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Annabeth and Percy. We're in the eighth grade."**

**The male teacher narrowed his two-colored eyes. I didn't know what Thalia was thinking. Now we'd probably get punished for lying and thrown into the snow. But the man seemed to be hesitating.**

**He looked at his colleague. "Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"**

**Despite the danger we were in, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. A teacher named Got Chalk? He had to be kidding.**

"Why are you so immature?" Annabeth laughed, but she kissed him anyway. Aphrodite didn't even blink as she watched them.

"She is scaring me," Frank whispered to Hazel.

"I know, me too, just ignore her," Hazel whispered back.

**The woman blinked, like someone had just woken her up from a trance. "I… yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at us. "Annabeth. Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium?"**

**Before we could answer, I heard more footsteps, and Grover ran up, breathless. "You made it! You—"**

"Blew it!" Hermes chimed in. Grover blushed.

**He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs. Gottschalk. Dr. Thorn! I, uh—"**

**"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" said the man. His tone made it clear that he detested Grover. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."**

**Grover swallowed. "Yes, sir. Of course, Dr. Thorn. I just meant, I'm so glad they made… the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"**

"Oh my gods, that was a bad lie," Leo shook his head. "Like, so bad,"

"I know, okay! It was better than what I almost said though."

**Dr. Thorn glared at us. I decided one of his eyes had to be fake. The brown one? The blue one? He looked like he wanted to pitch us off the castle's highest tower, but then Mrs. Gottschalk said dreamily, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again!"**

**We didn't wait to be told twice. We left with a lot of "Yes, ma'ams" and "Yes, sirs" and a couple of salutes, just because it seemed like the thing to do.**

**Grover hustled us down the hall in the direction of the music.**

**I could feel the teachers' eyes on my back, but I walked closely to Thalia and asked in a low voice, "How did you do that finger-snap thing?"**

**"You mean the Mist? Hasn't Chiron shown you how to do that yet?"**

"Eek, that was mean," Thalia looked apologetic.

"It's okay, what I did a little later was worse." The people who weren't there looked confused.

**An uncomfortable lump formed in my throat. Chiron was our head trainer at camp, but he'd never shown me anything like that. Why had he shown Thalia and not me?**

"Because you had never asked," Annabeth pointed out.

"Geez thanks, why do I love you again?" Percy smirked at her. She decided to prove that with a kiss.

"For the love of the gods, could you not do that? We are trying to read!" Nico covered his eyes. Percabeth broke apart slowly and unwillingly.

**Grover hurried us to a door that had GYM written on the glass. Even with my dyslexia, I could read that much.**

**"That was close!" Grover said. "Thank the gods you got here!"**

**Annabeth and Thalia both hugged Grover. I gave him a big high five.**

**It was good to see him after so many months. He'd gotten a little taller and had sprouted a few more whiskers, but otherwise he looked like he always did when he passed for human—a red cap on his curly brown hair to hide his goat horns, baggy jeans and sneakers with fake feet to hide his furry legs and hooves. He was wearing a black T-shirt that took me a few seconds to read. It said WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. I wasn't sure whether that was, like, Grover's rank or maybe just the school motto.**

"Rank," Grover said disgusted. "It was the lowest, I was in there because of my 'limp',"

**"So what's the emergency?" I asked.**

**Grover took a deep breath. "I found two."**

**"Two half-bloods?" Thalia asked, amazed. "Here?"**

**Grover nodded.**

**Finding one half-blood was rare enough. This year, Chiron had put the satyrs on emergency overtime and sent them all over the country, scouring schools from fourth grade through high school for possible recruits. These were desperate times. We were losing campers. We needed all the new fighters we could find. The problem was, there just weren't that many demigods out there.**

"Well, that's not a problem you hear very often," Poseidon joke, pointedly looking at his brother Zeus. A murderous look was received. "Nope? Um, okay, well haha?" He made a feeble attempt to save himself.

**"A brother and a sister," he said. "They're ten and twelve. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."**

**"Monsters?"**

**One." Grover looked nervous. "He suspects. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!"**

**Grover looked at Thalia desperately. I tried not to feel upset by that. Used to be, Grover looked to me for answers, but Thalia had seniority. Not just because her dad was Zeus. Thalia had more experience than any of us with fending off monsters in the real world.**

Percy cringed and burrowed his head into his hands. "Why was I so bitter?" He half cried, half cursed. "But more importantly, why my thoughts? I'm sure Thalia's would have much more interesting."

Thalia frantically shook her head. "Nope. Nopity nope nope. I'm good."

**"Right," she said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"**

**Grover nodded.**

**"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "Who's the monster?"**

**"Oh," Grover said, and looked around nervously. "You just met him. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn."**

"That was the spoiler from earlier," Nico said.

"What kind of monster was it?" Jason asked. No one answered him. Percy was just hit by the realization that Annabeth was going to be captured soon, and increase his grip around her, even though it would do no good.

**Weird thing about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event and they get to be out of uniform. I guess it's because everything's so strict the rest of the time, they feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.**

**There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each others faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that looked like torture devices. Every once in a while they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys looked more like me—uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives. Of course, in my case, it was true…**

**"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."**

At the mention of Bianca, the whole room went silent. Nico looked like he was trying too hard not to look sad.

**The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.**

'She did that a lot," Nico said sadly.

**Annabeth said, "Do they… I mean, have you told them?"**

**Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."**

**He looked at me, and I nodded. I'd never really understood what half-bloods "smell" like to monsters and satyrs, but I knew that your scent could get you killed. And the more powerful a demigod you became, the more you smelled like a monster's lunch.**

**"So let's grab them and get out of here," I said.**

"Is it really ever that easy for you guys?" Frank asked. The four who were there shook their heads.

"Touché," Percy said.

**I started forward, but Thalia put her hand on my shoulder. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn, had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in our direction. His blue eye seemed to glow.**

**Judging from his expression, I guessed Thorn hadn't been fooled by Thalia's trick with the Mist after all. He suspected who we were. He was just waiting to see why we were here.**

**"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."**

**"How?"**

**"We're three powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids."**

"She wants you to dance? Hahahahahhahaha," Hermes laughed. The four were unsure whether they should be concerned why them dancing would be such a bad thing.

**"Dancing?" Annabeth asked.**

**Thalia nodded. She cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"**

Apollo grimaced.

**Grover looked hurt. "I did."**

Apollo looked at Grover. "Man, I have a lot of work to do with you,"

**"Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"**

**"Green who?"**

**"Never mind. Let's dance."**

**"But I can't dance!"**

**"You can if I'm leading," Thalia said. "Come on, goat boy."**

**Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor.**

"Galia?" Aphrodite said. The goat boy and Zeus daughter look disturbed.

"Um, no." Grover said quickly.

**Annabeth smiled.**

**"What?" I asked.**

**"Nothing. It's just cool to have Thalia back."**

**Annabeth had grown taller than me since last summer, which I found kind of disturbing. She used to wear no jewelry except for her Camp Half-Blood bead necklace, but now she wore little silver earrings shaped like owls—the symbol of her mother, Athena. She pulled off her ski cap, and her long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders. It made her look older, for some reason.**

Percy blushed as they read his description of Annabeth. She smiled at him. Well, a least it was kinda flattering.

**"So…" I tried to think of something to say. Act natural, Thalia had told us. When you're a half-blood on a dangerous mission, what the heck is natural? "Um, design any good buildings lately?"**

"Smooth," Nico leaned over and high fived Percy.

**Annabeth's eyes lit up, the way they always did when she talked about architecture. "Oh my gods, Percy. At my new school, I get to take 3-D design as an elective, and there's this cool computer program…"**

**She went on to explain how she'd designed this huge monument that she wanted to build at Ground Zero in Manhattan. She talked about structural supports and facades and stuff, and I tried to listen. I knew she wanted to be a super architect when she grew up—she loves math and historical buildings and all that—but I hardly understood a word she was saying.**

"Do you ever really understand what she is talking about?" Leo questioned. Percy looked from his girlfriend, to Leo, then back to Annabeth, then back to Leo.

"Sometimes?" He said uncertainly. Annabeth wasn't sure whether to whack him or hug him for still listening to her.

**The truth was I was kind of disappointed to hear that she liked her new school so much. It was the first time she'd gone to school in New York. I'd been hoping to see her more often. It was a boarding school in Brooklyn, and she and Thalia were both attending, close enough to Camp Half-Blood that Chiron could help if they got in any trouble. Because it was an all-girls school, and I was going to MS-54 in Manhattan, I hardly ever saw them.**

"Aw," Aphrodite cooed. Annabeth and Thalia smiled at him. Percy did an internal fist pump for redeeming himself.

"**Yeah, uh, cool," I said. "So you're staying there the rest of the year, huh?"**

**Her face got dark. "Well, maybe, if I don't—"**

**"Hey!" Thalia called to us. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die. At least his feet were fake. Unlike me, he had an excuse for being clumsy.**

**"Dance, you guys!" Thalia ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."**

**I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym.**

"You didn't," Piper gasped. Percy looked sheepish.

**"Well?" Annabeth said.**

**"Um, who should I ask?"**

"Oh dear gods," Piper committed the epicest of face palms. Aphrodite recoiled. Artemis added to her list "Stupid Crap Boys Do."

**She punched me in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."**

**"Oh. Oh, right."**

**So we went onto the dance floor, and I looked over to see how Thalia and Grover were doing things. I put one hand on Annabeth's hip, and she clasped my other hand like she was about to judo throw me.**

"I totally could have," Annabeth boasted. When people looked surprised, Percy elaborated.

"Actually, she has before,"

**"I'm not going to bite," she told me. "Honestly, Percy. Don't you guys have dances at your school?"**

**I didn't answer. The truth was we did. But I'd never, like, actually danced at one. I was usually one of the guys playing basketball in the corner.**

"And this is why I don't want my thoughts read aloud!"

**We shuffled around for a few minutes. I tried to concentrate on little things, like the crepe-paper streamers and the punch bowl—anything but the fact that Annabeth was taller than me, and my hands were sweaty and probably gross, **

"Really? I didn't notice that." Annabeth said.

**and I kept stepping on her toes.**

"That was actually very hard to ignore," Annabeth admitted.

**"What were you saying earlier?" I asked. "Are you having trouble at school or something?"**

"That was sweet to ask, Percy," Hestia commented. Annabeth agreed, snuggling in closer.

**She pursed her lips. "It's not that. It's my dad."**

**"Uh-oh." I knew Annabeth had a rocky relationship with her father. "I thought it was getting better with you two. Is it your stepmom again?"**

Athena raised her eyebrows. "What about your stepmom?" Annabeth looked down and muttered something about talking later. Percy glared at Athena and wrapped his arms around her daughter, knowing Annabeth had a hard time talking about it.

**Annabeth sighed. "He decided to move. Just when I was getting settled in New York, he took this stupid new job researching for a World War I book. In San Francisco!'**

**She said this the same way she might say Fields of Punishment or Hades's gym shorts.**

**"So he wants you to move out there with him?" I asked.**

**"To the other side of the country," she said miserably. "And half-bloods can't live in San Francisco. He should know that."**

**"What? Why not?"**

**Annabeth rolled her eyes. Maybe she thought I was kidding. "You know. It's right there!'**

**"Oh," I said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn't want to sound stupid. **

"That's why you didn't say anything more!" Annabeth cried out. "Oh, that makes so much more sense."

**"So… you'll go back to living at camp or what?"**

**"It's more serious than that, Percy. I… I probably should tell you something."**

"I actually never heard what you wanted to say," Percy whispered in her ear. Annabeth gave him a look that said "later".

**Suddenly she froze. "They're gone."**

"Well, that was a cliff-hanger," Demeter said. "Who next?"

* * *

**I'll try to update part two this weekend, it just got too long on me. I swear, this sickness is making my writing crap. Please review, follow, and favorite, and don't forget to check out my new story!**


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